


Mirror's Edge

by burnintoash (funnymorning)



Category: Winner (Band)
Genre: M/M, Minor Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-10
Updated: 2015-12-10
Packaged: 2018-05-05 22:42:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 60,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5392985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/funnymorning/pseuds/burnintoash
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Seunghoon is your friendly neighbourhood pop star and Minho is a little bit of Gwen Stacy and a little bit of Mary Jane. Aka spiderman!Seunghoon AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Volume I: NIGHTS

**Author's Note:**

> cross-posted from LJ: http://burnintoash.livejournal.com/1990.html

Throwing a punch with broken ribs really really hurts.

Of course, Seunghoon knows that. But only like, theoretically. He wasn’t fully prepared for the sparks of pain that fired across his nerves’ ends when his fist meets the hard cut of a jaw. He was pulling his punches earlier but this dude is just too stubborn to go down easily until Seunghoon strains his shoulders to put all his weight into one punch.

He props his shoulder against the cold grimy wall and tries to catch the breath that is coming out in short rasps from his lungs. Good thing that painful last punch knocked the guy down – finally! – because Seunghoon doesn’t think he can even lift his hand right now. 

Whatever healing his ribs did over the past two days is probably waste now and he will have to suffer again for at least another week, because even with enhanced healings, broken ribs are a bitch to recover from. Especially without proper medical care. 

The dude hisses something from the ground, holding his broken and bloody nose. Seunghoon can’t hear him clearly over the buzzing in his ears, but he can imagine that it is something along the line of threats and curses. It always is the case with these kind of people.

“God, shut up.” Seunghoon groans and webs the guy’s mouth shut. He tries not to use his webs on people too often because who knows what kind of side effects they have. But the guy is annoying and Seunghoon is running pretty thin on patience right now. “I have a pretty rough day, man. So just shut up until the police comes, alright?”

Rough day doesn’t even begin to cover it. 

Taehyun was at the producer booth today, because apparently, Seunghoon has not been suffering enough lately. 

Every breath Seunghoon took hurt his ribs all over, and he couldn't control his breathing or tempo during his recording session, breaking after every two lines to catch his breath. Taehyun’s face gets darker and darker as Seunghoon wasted more and more recording time, fucking up even the smallest parts. Seunghoon finally called it and said that he is not feeling well before a blood vessel pops in Taehyun’s head. 

He thinks he would rather deal with Seungyoon’s constant strings of nagging over Taehyun’s silent judgmental stares. That’s how scary Taehyun can be for a guy two years Seunghoon’s junior. 

Even Jinwoo was unhappy with him because he had to go in after Seunghoon to record when Taehyun’s mood was already sour and dark. But he at least shared his ginger honey tea with Seunghoon when Seunghoon complained that he is having a stomachache. It tasted expensively gross, which is exactly Jinwoo’s taste. 

Seunghoon was planning on having a quiet and painful night in. Sleep is precious to come by these days. They are constantly writing songs, recording, re-writing, re-recording. And Seunghoon has to go out and beat bad guys at night too. 

He is trying to cut down his nightly activities. He really is. He just got his ass handed to him two nights back by a gang of thugs trying to rob a liquor store, and one of them tried to use a baseball bat on his ribs. Seunghoon took immense pleasure in pushing that guy into the wine rack, although the store owner didn’t. 

Well, better a few broken wine bottles than an emptied-out register, right?

Anyway, he was ready for a bath and a good meal loaded with fats and calories (he’s been fighting constantly for weeks; he earned it), but he heard a scream a couple of blocks away from the dorm, and he couldn’t help himself. It is practically in his backyard anyway.

It was only three guys – large intimidating guys but Seunghoon has faced larger, who were kicking a man in his middle age into a pool of his own blood. Loan sharks, probably. But, it is not like Seunghoon has the time to inquire after the reason. They jumped on him once he swung into the middle of the brawl and pushed them apart. 

All of them are lying on the dirty ground right now, conscious but hopefully beaten enough not to get up and take a swing at him again. The guy he was trying to help had run away long ago, the same pattern as almost everyone he had ever helped. 

He flexes his arms a little and winces at the pain, biting at his lips to make sure he doesn’t throw up. Seunghoon doesn’t even want to think about the consequences of throwing up when he is in the suit. 

The pain has lessened a little but not enough for him to swing back to the dorm. 

Maybe he can call manager hyung.

Huh. Imagine that. 

Hi hyung. Can you come pick me up at this dirty alley where I just beat up three guys to the ground while wearing a spandex suit and shooting web strings from my fingers? And can you get me a burger on the way? Thanks. 

One of the guy groans and attempts at standing up. Which is a waste of effort really. This guy at least has an option to lie on the nice firm ground until someone comes to pick him up (hopefully to throw him in jail). Seunghoon has no such option. He should be back at his room since like ten minutes ago, resting and writing lyrics, instead of standing here and trying to swallow down the metallic taste of blood in his mouth. God, please don’t be a loose tooth. Teeth are one thing that he can’t heal or grow back. 

He groans and sighs out loud, pushing himself off the wall. This time, he is a little more mentally prepared so the pain is not that shocking. It still hurts like a bitch though. 

He would really love a cool exit like crawling up the building or shooting a strand of web from his fingers and swinging himself up, but his body is not having any of it, so he just decides to walk home back under the shadows of the dark alleys connecting the apartments. He is going to have to crawl up the wall to their dorm on the 9th floor anyway. He should probably save his energy for that. 

*

The bath is warm and soothing and Seunghoon can cry from how amazing it feels on his aching body. He is grateful for the hundredth time that their dorm has an actual bathtub, unlike the shared, cramped and always cold shower he used to share with three other guys when he first moved to Seoul. 

There are a few evidences of his night on his face, lit up by the strong bathroom light. The scrap near his eye can be easily hidden with a concealer. Seunghoon is getting pretty good at it. The makeup noonas would be proud of him.

The worst offender in terms of looks is actually the purpling bruise on his mouth, torn skin visible through the dried blood. It doesn’t even hurt that much but it is not something that he can hide like his broken ribs. 

He cleans the wound as carefully as he can and makes sure he flushes the blood stained tissues down the toilet. Hopefully the bruise will fade in the morning or else, he will have to wear a mask the whole day again. 

When he first started and hadn't yet realize that his healing has been accelerated along with his senses, he almost had a breakdown thinking of how he is going to explain his beaten up face. 

He is getting better at lying as well. 

When he walks back into his bedroom, body tired and ready to crush, Lee Hee is already sleeping in her corner. Seunghoon panics a little before he sees her half eaten food bowl. Minho probably came in and fed her because Seunghoon forgot to do it before he left. Minho is the only one who thinks a Chihuahua the size of a Pringles can needs to eat a large bowl filled with food to the brim. 

He falls face down on his bed, wincing when his ribs come in contact with the mattress. They still hurt but he can feel them healing. It is weird, knowing the bones inside your body are shifting back into where they should be. Seunghoon is a dancer; he has always been aware of his body, but to actually be conscious of his inner bones and joints is both incredible and disgusting. 

Seunghoon groans lowly into his pillow; the pain is gradually ebbing into something familiarly soothing, and he can feel himself drifting away into sleep. 

Someone knocks on the door. 

The problem with heightened senses is that you are aware of every little movements and sounds. Even the sounds of someone gently tapping their knuckles on your door. 

Or a whisper. “Seunghoon hyung, are you asleep?" 

Seunghoon doesn’t cry, but it’s a near thing. Maybe if he doesn’t answer, he’ll be left alone. 

“Seunghoon hyung.” The voice calls again.

“What do you want Minho?" 

Apparently, acknowledging him is all Minho needs because the next thing Seunghoon knows, he is stepping into the room, turning the lights on. 

“No, keep it off.” Seunghoon says, turning his head to face the wall. “My eyes are sensitive." 

“Ok, grandpa.” Minho snorts but turns the lights back off. 

“What’s up?” Seunghoon asks again, resigning himself to the fact that he is not going to able to sleep at least for another 15 minutes. If he is lucky and Minho is not feeling like talking much. 

“Where were you earlier? Taehyun said you were sick.” Minho says, hip-checking Seunghoon to the side and sitting down on the bed. 

“On the roof,” Seunghoon lies, hoping Minho didn’t go up to check. The members are all too busy and/or exhausted these days to care about who is doing what 24/7, which is partly the reason Seunghoon has been getting away with his nighttime adventures. 

“It’s so windy up there.” Minho chides. “You should keep warm if you are not feeling good." 

Apparently, nagging is contagious. Leave Minho alone with Seungyoon for one day and he turns into Seunghoon’s mom. 

“Did you just come here to talk shit?” Seunghoon kicks Minho’s bare arm lightly with his socked feet and asks. Minho slaps the intruding foot and lies his head down on Seunghoon’s thigh. At least, it is not on the ribs. 

“Are you not going to ask me how it went today?” Minho says, voice slowing into a grumble. 

He was. But shit happens and it just kind of slips his mind. 

“Sorry.” He says sincerely, reaching out his hand to ruffle Minho’s slimy hair. Just how much hair gel does this kid use for real? 

"How was it?" He asks after a silent beat. Although he already knew how it went if Minho is uncharacteristically sulky. 

"He likes Different." Minho replies, edgily grabbing Seunghoon's hand from his head. Unlike a certain maknae, Minho does not enjoy being pet, which is the reason why Seunghoon does it so often. "He wants us to make the tempo of the bridge a little faster though." 

"That’s good, I guess. What about your songs?" Seunghoon asks what Mino really wants to talk about. 

"Not hip hop enough for him apparently." Minho sighs heavily, bitterness sweeping into his tone. "Two weeks ago it was too hip hop." 

"You'll find a balance soon." Seunghoon says even though he feels like he has been saying this for weeks. He knows that Minho hates this - compromising and changing his style, and in an extension of sort, who he is as an artist. But there's nothing Seunghoon can do to help. Except maybe webbing Mr. Yang’s mouth shut during the album meetings, and that is a nice scenario to imagine.

"Ah. I don't know." Minho moans. "I'm going crazy." 

"You'll be fine. You work best under pressure." Seunghoon reminds him. 

"I'm just gonna have to be stressed my whole life then." Minho sighs and wriggles his way up until he reaches just under Seunghoon's armpit. 

"Can I sleep here tonight?" Minho asks. 

"Don't kick." Seunghoon yawns and passes a pillow over to Minho before shoving his face into his own pillow and lets the tiredness of the day washes over him.


	2. Volume II: DAYS

Glaring sunlight hits his eyes. Seunghoon groans, remembering he didn't shut the curtains after he climbed in through the window last night. 

Minho shifts next to him, mouth open and hair sticking all over the place. Seunghoon can hear the steady beats of his heart over Lee Hee's yelping outside if he concentrates. 

Seunghoon yawns out loud and the cut on his mouth stings a little. Shit. His face. 

He pulls himself out from where he is trapped under Minho's sprawled legs and sprints into the bathroom, stopping in front of the bathroom mirror. The scrap on his eye is more or less gone. The bruise on his mouth is still there even though it is not as glaringly obvious as it was last night. A little concealer and he wouldn't even need a mask. By lunch, it should be fine. 

"Hyung, why did you run off so quickly?" Minho's raspy voice came just outside of the bathroom door. 

"I need to pee. Why are you asking stupid questions?" Seunghoon calls back. 

"Are you sure you don't have a morning wood or something?" Minho laughs and Seunghoon lets out an indignant snort. 

"You wish." He yells back and turns the shower on. "I'm going to take a shower. Go away." 

Minho does but not without obnoxiously singing "Go Away" on his way out. Seunghoon can hear him shouting "Seunghoon hyung has a morning wood" to someone in the living room. Probably to Jinwoo. Taehyun would be uninterested. Seungyoon is probably still deep in his dreams. 

Jinwoo and Taehyun are fighting over the remote when Seunghoon steps into the living room, concealer fresh over his wounds. Seungyoon is sleeping into his coffee mug on the couch, despite Jinwoo trying to tickle Taehyun to death next to him. 

"Go and sleep more." Seunghoon says and steals a handful of cornflakes from the plate Seungyoon is precariously balancing on his wobbly knees. 

"I'll sleep on the plane." Seungyoon smiles without opening his eyes and clutches his coffee mug tighter like a lifeline. "Have you packed, hyung?" 

"No," Seunghoon answers. He is a pro at packing now. They all are. It will take them about 20 minutes to pack up and get ready for airports these days. "I'll do it later." 

"Me too." Seungyoon hands him the plate and gets up, stretching his bony arms out. "I am going to drop by at the studio first and finish some stuff." 

Taehyun rolls his eyes from where he is sitting and holding Jinwoo's head in a noogie. 

"We have a show right after we land. Rest a little.” Jinwoo calls to Seungyoon, who is not listening. Seunghoon is half convinced that Seungyoon is probably sleepwalking at this point. 

Taehyun takes advantage of Jinwoo's momentary distraction and steals the remote. 

Seunghoon gets up and follows Seungyoon into the kitchen because his stomach is shouting for sustenance since he forgets dinner last night. And he needs to escape before Jinwoo and Taehyun start play fighting again and pulling him in. 

He is sitting down at the dining table with his reheated soup and rice when Taehyun changes the channel to the local news. 

"According to Park Hijyo, a student at Seoul Girls' High school, she encountered the man last night near Yanghwa-ro beating up three victims." 

What the fuck. 

There is a photo of him in the suit on the TV. A little dark but the red and blue on his suit is visible against the yellow light from the street lamp. 

He must have been in more pain than he thought if he didn’t even notice someone taking a picture of him. 

"We have had reports of a similar figure whose weapon of choice is a material that looks like spider webs but this is the first time we have a clear photo proof." The news lady is continuing. "He is sighted mostly around Mapo-gu so we strongly encourage residents to take extra care especially at night. Police are launching investigation into this figure and are asking the public to come forth with any information." 

"How come we’ve never seen this guy before? We are in Mapo-gu." Minho asks, forgotten towel in his hand. The water droplets from his freshly showered hair are dripping onto the carpet, and the sounds of them echo in Seunghoon’s ears.

"When was the last time we went out at night?" Seungyoon answers, now awake enough to be watching the news with interest. 

"Maybe it's the kkangpae?" Jinwoo mutters. 

"What kind of gangster thinks that suit is intimidating?" Taehyun snorts. 

Taehyun possesses a denim overall. He has no room to judge.

Seunghoon spent weeks on that suit, ok? It involves a lot of researches and sneaky online orders and actual honest-to-god sewing with threads and needles. Sure, it can be a little darker but all the black dye was sold out, and he doesn’t want to look like devil walking down the street at night. 

"Maybe it's a girl." Seunghoon suggests in a useless effort for distraction. "We don't know, right?" 

"Flat chest." Taehyun answers easily. "That suit is really tight so it's either a guy or a really tall 10-year old girl." 

Maybe he can steal the fake boobs Taehyun and Jinwoo hyung used when they were doing The Heirs parody. 

“Probably just some superhero-wannabe psycho.” Taehyun continues without mercy and changes the channel to the rerun of yesterday’s M-Countdown. The others also apparently lose interest and wander off to continue on with their morning. Seunghoon is the only one standing still, chopsticks in hand. 

“Seunghoon hyung, are you finished with your breakfast?” Minho calls from the kitchen, towel drying his wet hair and eyeing Seunghoon’s breakfast. 

“No,” Seunghoon shakes himself out of his thoughts and replies. “There’s rice in the cooker if you want." 

Minho says his thanks and starts mumbling about plans for the day before they have to leave for the airport. Seunghoon only pays him half attention, his mind still stuck on the news. He needs to be more careful. He always makes sure he doesn’t leave any evidence of Lee Seunghoon when he is in the suit. That is the whole point of the head-to-toe suit. No fingerprints, no DNAs, no hair strands. But the only thing he knows about forensic science is from a handful of CSI episodes and internet research, so basically nothing. 

Since they are headed to Japan for a couple of days anyway, he can at least lay low for a while. The public will forget about the suited figure soon, and move onto some other more interesting and gossipy news. 

Hopefully. 

*

Touring is more relaxing than spending day in day out at the studio these days. Especially because it’s the YG family tour where they are only expected to be on stage for an hour or so, and the rest of time is spent waiting and preparing or watching other people’s performances. Plus, it is fun to hang out with people who he can only greet in passing back at the studio. Everyone is treating it like paid vacation, fooling around on the stage until Jiyong hyung threatens to cut the camera on anyone who is not taking the rehearsals seriously. 

Seunghoon’s ribs are healing up nicely as well, especially since he has been getting more rest by sneaking out to sleep every chance he can get - Jinwoo found him curled into sleep under the massage table yesterday. Three days into the tour and Seunghoon is already feeling like his body is back on track. 

Big Bang hyungs decide to hold a backstage party on their last day of tour in Japan, forcing about fifty people to squeeze into their dressing room. Alcohol and cigarettes are plenty and there are more sushi plates than Seunghoon can count. 

Minho and Taehyun are playing (and losing) poker with Seungri hyung, all of them looking pretty wasted. Which is the state for almost everyone except for the respective managers with resigned looks on their faces, warily tracking their respective person’s every moves. Seungyoon is with Team B doing some sorts of drinking games that involves cards and calculations, and Jinwoo is nowhere to be found. Probably trying to trick someone into doing shots with him. 

Seunghoon sneaks out into the hallway, the music thumping from industry-sized speakers becoming too much for his hypersensitive ears. He wanted to leave after everyone starts drinking but Seungyoon has unceremoniously given him “drunk Minho” duty so he cannot leave yet. And with the way the night is going, he will probably end up with “drunk Winner members” duty instead. 

The hallway also holds a crowd of people but it is quieter by the margin than the inside of the room. He spots Tablo and Mithra sitting in those foldable makeup chairs in the corner, sharing a large plate of tempuras, and talking between themselves. 

“What’s up?” Tablo raises the beer bottle in his hand in greeting when Seunghoon goes over to join them.

“What are you doing here?” Seunghoon says and collapses into the empty chair. 

“Hiding from Seunghyun before he forces the whole bottle of champagne down our throats.” Mithra replies, taking a swig out of his beer. “What about you? Shouldn’t you be inside making sure the Big Bang maknae doesn’t rob your members blind?" 

“Why fight a losing battle?” Seunghoon laughs. “They got roped into playing poker with Seungri hyung every time they got drunk and they always lose. But they never learn." 

“I think it took like four years for even Jiyong to learn that.” Tablo says. “Why do you think Seungri is preying on your members now?”

Seunghoon nods and leans his head back on the wall, closing his eyes. They are not flying out until noon tomorrow, so maybe he can coax Minho or Jinwoo into going for a quick hot spring bath in early morning. If they are not dead from alcohol poisoning by then, that is.

“Hey, you know that weird suited guy in Mapo?” Mithra says and any calming thoughts of hot spring baths dissipate from Seunghoon’s mind immediately.

“Yeah. What about him?” Tablo replies. “Is he seen again?”

Seunghoon swallows tightly and holds his breath. 

“No,” Mithra replies. “But there are more people who says they’ve seen this guy. This lady is saying he saved her from a bunch of loan sharks.”

He shoves his phone in front of Tablo and Seunghoon leans into see an article. There is a picture of a lady in her 50s side by side with the dark photo of him a couple of days back. He doesn’t remember the lady but most of the times, he is focusing on not getting beaten or stabbed to death so he doesn’t have much time to remember the faces of people he is trying to help.

“Aish, what is this nonsense?” Tablo says, passing the phone to Seunghoon. “She is saying he can shoot spider webs out of his fingers and swing around like Tarzan.”

The article is comfortingly short, just the narration of the lady telling a play-by-play account of how a man in a tight red suit dropped from a building to save her and her son from the loan sharks harassing them. There is nothing solid to identify him. Sure, the lady guesses that the guy is about 6 feet tall but half of the guys in Seoul are. 

What catches Seunghoon’s eyes is the last paragraph.

“I didn’t get a chance to say anything because I was too shocked.” Kim Eun Jeong continues. “If he is reading this, I would like to say thank you to him.”

Our interview with Mrs. Kim concluded there. More and more eye witnesses are coming forth about their run-ins with the mysterious figure who has been the talk of Seoul for the past few days. If you want to have your story featured, please contact us at the below email address. 

There is a warm feeling in his chest, the kind he usually gets when the audience is cheering them on especially loudly or when one of his old teachers messaged him that she heard his song on the radio and she knew he would make it.

Tablo and Mithra are still arguing when Seunghoon passes the phone back. 

“What if he’s a North Korean spy?” Mithra is saying. “We don’t know what kind of shit they are doing over there.”

“Don’t talk crazy.” Tablo snorts. “Maybe it is just a tech suit, like Iron Man’s.”

“Exactly,” Mithra points and says enthusiastically. “The kind of tech that North Korea could have invented in secret!”

“I am gonna go check on Minho.” Seunghoon says, deciding to escape before he becomes a North Korean robot spy clone or something. 

Later that night, after Seunghoon and Jinwoo, who is somehow still stable on his feet, carried a wasted and empty-pocketed Minho back to their room, Seunghoon lies awake on his bed, turning on his phone under the blanket and checking Naver.

He doesn’t even have to search for anything. It’s right there on the home page, trending at number 3. 

“Spider-Man”, it says. It cannot be anything else, right?

There are detailed sketches of him as described from eye witnesses. Most of the details are wrong but the general idea is there. There are a few discussions going on about whether he is a superhero or a gang member. There are even people insisting that the spider on his suit is the symbol of an international gang. Seunghoon should have thought about it before putting it on, but when he was making the suit, he just thought the chest area was too plain and the fashion side of his brain kicked in.

Among the people who are saying he’s a gang member or a public enemy, there are also people defending him stating that what every eye witness is saying is in agreement that he is there to help and not harm. But there seems to be a general atmosphere of wariness hanging on every comment and Seunghoon cannot exactly blame them. You have to be somewhat of a nut-job to don a spandex costume and play vigilante.

Jinwoo mumbles something from the other bed and Seunghoon sighs, turning off his phone. He is Lee Seunghoon, an idol group member, not some crusader action hero. The amount of buzz he has seen online doesn’t seem to be dying down and almost every article mentions that the police are launching a series of investigation. If he gets caught, it is not only him who has too much to lose. 

Their hotel in Japan is one of the upscale ones with soundproof walls, good enough for even Seunghoon to block out outside noise. Which means Seunghoon hasn’t been hearing the usual screams and pleads for help that comes to him like clockwork back in Seoul. It is selfish he knows, but he enjoys it. Being ignorant of the terrors of the world. 

Maybe he can stay ignorant back home too.


	3. Volume III: FIRE

Minho has an evaluation with Mr. Yang again. Even Seungyoon wasn’t called because the CEO wanted to have a listen to Minho’s solo song options. Seunghoon has been through two survival shows but this part never comes easy despite the experience – waiting with bated breath for someone else to make judgment on whether you are worth it or not. All based on a three minutes song and dance.

Everyone is a little nervous the whole day. Their track list is more or less confirmed but Mr. Yang wants to add a hip hop song on the list to “make the album a little more flavorful.” Which is an idea not without merit except that he keeps rejecting whatever Minho comes up with. The optimistic side of Seunghoon’s brain knows that it is because Mr. Yang has high hope for Minho to produce something brilliant. He knows Minho does too. But it doesn’t mean that there is not a painful sting that comes with every rejection and send-back. 

Minho comes into the studio after lunch when Seungyoon is recording his vocals. No one needs to ask how it went because Minho has the worst poker face in the world. Seunghoon picks up the thumb drive Minho angrily throws on the table before storming out onto the balcony. Taehyun goes after him.

Seungyoon comes out of the recording room with a questioning look on his face and Seunghoon just shakes his head at him.

The mood is unpleasant for the rest of the day. Everything Minho records sound like an angry stream of words and Seungyoon calls it a day before everything comes to a blow. No one speaks a word on the drive back home, and times like these, Seunghoon wishes he is like Minho and knows how to lift up the mood. If it is someone else who is in a bad mood, Minho would pull faces and annoy them into smiling, but when Minho is in one, nobody knows what to do. 

Seunghoon decides to make a good dinner because at least, food never fails to cheer Minho up, but the guy has been in his room since they got back and does not even come out when Seunghoon calls for dinner. 

At least, his room door is not locked so Seunghoon pushes the door a little and peeks into the room. 

“Going out?” He asks when he sees Minho spraying cologne onto his newly changed clothes in front of the mirror.

“Yeah.” Minho nods. “Going out with Ji Ho hyung a bit.”

Seunghoon feels a little burn that Minho doesn’t want to be with the members who surely would understand what he is feeling now, but best friends are best friends and he is too old to be feeling petty emotions like jealousy.

“Alright,” he says instead. “Do you want to have dinner first? I made Kimchi stew.”

To his credit, Minho looks really apologetic. “I am sorry, hyung. I already told Ji Ho hyung that I’d eat dinner with him.”

“It’s fine,” Seunghoon waves him off. “I’ll save some for your hangover in the morning.”

“Sure.” Minho smiles at him, and fumbles with his scarf, fingers picking at the messily tied knot. 

Seunghoon steps closer and takes the red scarf from Minho’s hand. 

“Turn around.” He instructs Minho, who is still hilariously bad at tying triangle neck scarves despite his undying love for them.

“Minho,” Seunghoon says as he ties a double knot on the scarf. “You know you can say anything to me. To any of us, right?”

Minho sighs. “I know.”

“Ok.” Seunghoon straightens the scarf until it rests fashionably disheveled around Minho’s neck and pats his back. “It’s done.”

“Sometimes,” Minho starts, tugging on Seunghoon’s shirt like a kid. “I don’t want to say anything. You know what I mean?”

Seunghoon doesn’t, but he nods anyway.

“I just want to get wasted and rant about shit.”

“Alright,” Seunghoon smiles. “Do you need manager hyung to drive you?”

“No, Ji Ho hyung is picking me up. I’ll get a cab afterwards.”

“Ok, don’t get into too much trouble.” Seunghoon says and links his arm with Minho, pulling him out of his room. 

Everyone is already setting the table in the living room, big pot of Kimchi stew steaming in the middle of the table. 

“That smells good.” Minho says. “You’d better save me some.”

“You going out?” Seungyoon asks, bowls of rice in his hands. For a moment, Seunghoon thinks he’s going to say something nagging or leader-like but Seungyoon just nods and tells Minho to not drink too much and to tell Ji Ho he says hi. Sometimes, Seunghoon forgets Seungyoon is something resembling a mature adult despite the fact that he is walking around the house in his sponge bob pajama bottoms. 

The dinner is quiet. Jinwoo looks exhausted, and Taehyun and Seungyoon are half eating and half writing lyrics to a song they composed a while back. Seunghoon has lyrics to finish for his parts too, but he doesn’t feel like doing it yet. Tonight seems like the perfect night to go out and beat some bad guys up but he doesn’t want to break his good streak. The suit hidden under his bed has been resting for about a week and the earphones Seunghoon has been putting in before he goes to sleep every night are powerful enough to block out any sound.

They retreat to their own rooms after dinner, except for Jinwoo who stays in the living room to watch some drama. Seunghoon doesn’t feel like doing work and Lee Hee is in Busan so Seunghoon can’t even play with her. He finally decides to have an early night in, resolute to get up early and get to work the next morning. 

He can hear the music coming out of Taehyun’s room and occasional singing along by him and Seungyoon. They are probably working late into night, and knowing Seungyoon, he’d be up until Minho reaches home. He can also hear the voices from the TV in the living room despite the low volume Jinwoo has put on. In the first couple of days after he got bitten, Seunghoon could not bear these noises. The smallest sounds around him pounded into his over sensitive ear drums and drove him crazy. Even the sound of Jinwoo using the electric shaver in the bathroom made him want to claw his ears off in an effort to stop the intruding buzzing.

But now that he is used to it, Seunghoon finds it comforting. Especially when he is feeling down. It is just the simple and settled knowledge that his friends are out there, a hand distance away if he needs them.

He hears his own voice from the TV with an accompanying groan from Jinwoo, because Jinwoo still gets strangely embarrassed whenever he sees his own face on TV. Seunghoon hears a click from the remote, indicating that Jinwoo is rushing to change the channel like he always does when a Winner CF comes on. 

“The license plate has yet to be identified, but witnesses are saying that it is Song Minho of Winner in the back seat. Emergency response is on the way…”

Seunghoon is up and running out of his room before Jinwoo’s panicked shout comes. 

The local news is showing an upturned taxi on the road, a crowd forming around it. The front of the car is starting to catch fire, and the camera zooms into the backseat. Seunghoon feels his heart hollows out when he sees a red scarf hanging on the blurred figure in the backseat, whose face is too far to be seen clearly.

Jinwoo is shouting something, but Seunghoon’s brain is too dazed to reply. The camera zooms out and pans to the reporter at the scene, and Seunghoon suddenly recognizes the store she is standing next to. It is about only a good 3 km from their dorm.

He runs out of the dorm, ignoring Seungyoon’s yelling behind him. 

He scales up the side of their dorm from a deserted balcony and shoulders his room window open. He can hear Seungyoon’s panicked call to manager hyung in the living room over Jinwoo’s constant ‘oh my god’s. He changes into the suit as fast as he can in the dark and jumps back out of the window, fear choking up his throat and making his fingers tremble so much that it takes him a couple of tries to aim and shoot web strands. 

He hears the voices before he spots the crowd. The taxi has already started to catch even more fire, but the crowd around it seems to be thickening. He can hear sirens in the background but from the sound of them, they are at least six blocks away. 

Please be okay. Please be okay. 

Seunghoon lets go of the web strand he is holding on, and lands on his feet next to a startled camera man. 

The crowd silences down like they are taking a synchronized intake of breath before breaking into shouts and murmurs. But Seunghoon can’t think of any consequence or the flashing cameras now. He pulls the car door off its hinge and crawls into the tiny space just under Minho’s head, trying not to inhale the smoke that is slowly filling the inside. Minho has blood dripping on his face but at least he has his seatbelt on, causing him to suspend in his seat instead of crushing down to the hard ground.

Seunghoon rips off the seatbelt, ears straining for a heartbeat or a breath intake. He almost cries in relief when he hears the faint beating of Minho’s heart, steady and familiar. He wants to do a quick check that Minho is ok but the fire is starting to spread and the driver is still locked in the front seat. 

He is carrying Minho out, his hand over Minho’s head wound when the boy in his arms takes a ratchet breath and opens his eyes. Seunghoon freezes down to his toes.

“Who are you?” Minho whispers, voice soft and strained but Seunghoon hears him just fine.

An ambulance reaches in front of him and Seunghoon puts Minho on the ground, before running back to the car and pulling the driver out. Which is a bit trickier because the airbag is open and is already on fire. Seunghoon can feel the heat spreading on his torso and he doesn’t need to look down to know that his suit is on fire. 

Breathe. Just breathe. Don’t think. Don’t think. Don’t look anywhere. Breathe. It hurts. Breathe. In and Out. In and Out.

He manages to pull the unconscious driver out of the tight space and drags him towards an emergency personnel who is gaping at him. Seunghoon drops the driver at his feet and grabs the fire blanket from a nearby fireman, holding it tight to his chest. The adrenaline seems to have run out and the hideous pain comes in so suddenly that it almost knocks Seunghoon over to the ground.

“Who are you?” The fireman asks, hands hanging uselessly in front of him.

Seunghoon is really getting tired of people asking him this question.

“You need medical attention.” A woman in an emergency getup says, eyes widening when Seunghoon lifts the fire blanket, exposing his burnt chest to the cold night air. 

Before Seunghoon can reply anything, there is a camera in his face, and he can feel people crowding in on him, not caring that there are two injured people in front of him who needs immediate medical attention. Someone even tries to grab onto his arm, and Seunghoon has to slap the hand away. So much for laying low.

He shoots a web strand up to the nearest billboard, and swings himself into the air, the sharp wind going through his burnt chest like a dozen daggers. His free hand is uselessly holding the fire blanket over his chest, but it is no longer burning – it is just pure horrible pain. At least, he can still feel the pain so hopefully, it cannot be that bad. He has heard that if a burn is extremely severe, the patient cannot even feel the pain. 

Not that the pain is any pleasant.

He crashes in through the open window of his room, almost falling face first onto the floor. Hopefully, nobody has managed to follow him, but he does not have the energy or mental capacity to care about it right now. His phone on the night stand is buzzing and Seunghoon leans over to see Seungyoon’s name flashing on the screen.

He ignores it and stumbles into the bathroom, pain getting more and more unbearable on his chest. The upper half of the suit is almost gone, a big hole scorched in the middle of it. He anxiously looks down to see his red chest, filled with blisters and torn skins. At least they don’t look like third degree burns. 

He rustles through the medical cabinet until he found the tub of Aloe Vera he bought after too many burns in the kitchen.

Not the best remedy but it’ll have to do for now.

He wraps up his torso in bandages he has hidden under his bed and puts on the largest hoodie he can find before grabbing his phone. 

Seungyoon has left him about several text messages and about seven voice messages. He opens the last one.

“Hyung, seriously, where are you?” He can hear the anger and worry in Seungyoon’s voice, and sirens in the background. “They are taking Minho to Seoul’s General Hospital. Call me back as soon as you get this.”

He grabs his wallet and runs out of the dorm, flagging a cab.

When he reaches the hospital, he doesn’t even need to ask where Minho is. He can see Seungyoon pacing in the hallway next to the receptionist counter. Taehyun and Jinwoo are sitting on the ugly plastic chairs, hands clasped on their knees.

“Ya! Lee Seunghoon. Where the fuck were you?” Seungyoon shouts when he spots him, all formalities forgotten.

“Sorry,” he says, voice rough like he has inhaled too much smoke. “I thought I recognized the place so I ran off, but it was a wrong place. And I left my phone at home.”

“Why do you have to run off like that?” Seungyoon bellows. “We have to worry for both you and Minho.”

“Seungyoon hyung, calm down.” Taehyun gets up from the chair and puts a hand on the boy’s chest. “He was just worried.”

Seungyoon rubs his hand over his face and sighs. 

“I am really sorry.” Seunghoon apologizes again. “How is he?”

“We don’t know yet.” Jinwoo said, clasping his hands into a praying position. “The doctor is still in there with him.”

Seunghoon knows Minho is fine. He has to be. He was waking up earlier. But still, he doesn’t know if there is any internal bleeding or if his head wound is extreme. Maybe Seunghoon should have reached him sooner. Maybe he should have brought Minho to a hospital instead of just leaving him there. 

For the first time tonight, Seunghoon starts to feel hopeless. 

“I need to call his mom.” Seungyoon says, hand over his mouth like the thought nauseates him. Seunghoon doesn’t blame him.

“I’ll come with you.” Taehyun says and pulls Seungyoon out the hospital by hand.

“Minho will be fine, right?” Jinwoo turns and asks when Seunghoon collapses into the chair next to him. 

“Yeah,” Seunghoon nods numbly. “He will be.” 

He has to.


	4. Volume IV: CHOICES

Shortly after Mr. Yang arrived, the doctor comes out and explains in an annoyingly bright tone that everyone involved in the accident is relatively fine even though the driver has more severe injuries. Minho broke his arm with a minor head wound and a couple of burns on his legs but at least he sustains no long-term injuries.

Seunghoon breaks down into tears, relief pouring out of his heart like rainfall in July. He feels like this is the first time he manages to catch a breath this whole night. Jinwoo is sobbing next to him and he can hear Taehyun muttering “Why do these hyungs cry at everything” even though he himself sounds like he is on the verge of tears. 

They can’t see Minho yet though because he is still under watch in ICU. Seungyoon looks like he wants to argue but Mr. Yang tells them to go back home and sleep. Minho’s family is driving down and they will reach in early morning, so they make plan to come back in a couple of hours. 

“I was so scared I thought I was going to die.” Jinwoo says in the car, head leaned against the window. The boys launch into a conversation about what is going to happen but Seunghoon curls into himself, holding back tears when the shift of his body makes the burns on his chest feel like acid being spread across his torso. Sometimes, he wonders if accelerated healing means accelerated pain too. It’s quite a high price to pay if he is being honest.

Later, when everyone has disappeared into their own rooms, Seunghoon gets into the bathtub as quietly as he can. He tries his best not to moan out loud when the sting on his chest alleviates a little as he submerges his body under water. He is lucky that everyone is too busy worrying over Minho because now that he is looking closely, he can see the burn marks on his arms although they have started healing already. Half of his body is also covered in soot from the smoke but he was wearing long-sleeved shirt and pants so no one noticed. 

Seunghoon drains the water out and fills up the tub again, hoping that increased healing means not easily catching a cold too. Because he is not going to get out of water for at least next three hours. 

Now that his heart is not beating uncontrollably and his mind has come to a cool, Seunghoon realizes just how much he probably fucked up tonight. Hopefully, since it is a fire, even if there were some sorts of trace left of him, everything will be burnt. But, he is pretty sure at least 20 people have footages of him now and it will definitely be all over the news tomorrow. It is probably all over SNS as of now. A masked weirdo saving a high profile idol? If that doesn’t make the headlines for the next two weeks, Seunghoon doesn’t know what will. 

At least, nobody has come knocking off on the door yet or is hiding in his room to kill him, so Seunghoon figures he can fret about it tomorrow. His brain is full of worry as it is. 

Song Minho better recover fast and painless after all this shit. 

*

“You need to give a press conference first.” Manager hyung says before all of them even finish stepping onto the car.

It’s not like Seunghoon doesn’t expect this. 

“Can’t we just release a statement first and do the actual thing a little later?” He asks anyway. “It’ll take like five minutes tops to drop by and check on Minho.”

“His family is with him.” Manager hyung replies apologetically and takes a turn that definitely doesn’t go towards the Seoul’s General Hospital. “They are moving him to a private hospital soon so you can just go and meet him there after the press conference.”

“This is ridiculous.” Taehyun says from the backseat. “How are we supposed to tell the fans that he is fine if we don’t even see with our eyes that he is fine?”

“I know Danah has been sending you guys update messages every hour.” Manager hyung says. “You know he is fine.”

“Still…” Taehyun huffs.

“It’s fine.” Seungyoon butts in. “We’ll do this thing quickly and then go.”

Taehyun glares at him.

“I cancelled today’s recording and fitting session.” Seungyoon continues. “So, we’ll just stay over there until late.”

That seems to pacify Taehyun, who nods and agrees. Seunghoon thanks Seungyoon silently because he has been worrying about the fitting session the whole morning. He already has a plan that involves actually hurting himself to get out of having to take off his shirt in front of other people. 

Manager hyung seems like he wants to argue but Seungyoon tells him that he already cleared it with Mr. Yang. (He probably did it after cancelling the sessions first because Seungyoon is incredibly sneaky when he wants to be.)

A hurried assistant hands him a file on what he needs to say in the press conference when Seunghoon is in the makeup chair. Seunghoon doesn’t think they need to be fully dolled-up but the makeup noona insists that she needs to make him look worried and tired while still looking good on camera. Seunghoon has been in the game long enough to understand so he just shuts up and let her do the magic on his dark circles. 

The note in his hand is brief. It just lists down a couple of pointers that they need to go over.

1\. Emphasize that Minho is not at the wheel.  
2\. Double emphasize the fact that drugs or alcohols were not involved from their side. The file even has a police report confirming that there are traffic cam footages showing the driver trying to avoid a speeding motorcycle.   
3\. Ensure that everyone involved in recovering quickly with no complications.   
4\. Double ensure that they are not delaying their debut. (Thank god)  
5\. Give some thanks to “spider-man” but do not mention his name and do not stay too long on this topic. 

“I didn’t know this guy was involved.” Taehyun says from the make up chair next to him. “Spider-man, I mean.”

“It was really cool.” Jinwoo leans in and says, causing his makeup noona to tsk and pulls him back. “I saw some videos on YouTube last night. He just like jumps in from nowhere and pulls them out of the car.”

“Who calls himself spider-man though?” Taehyun asks, pulling out his phone.

It is not like Seunghoon calls himself that. The public names him and he has no say in it – thank you very much. 

“Still,” Jinwoo shrugs. “What do you think he is? My mom is saying he’s a gang member, but he can’t be, right?”

“I don’t know.” Taehyun replies. “Maybe he’s a fan of us.”

“It’d be so awesome to have a superhero fan.” Jinwoo grins. 

“Point number 5. Don’t say the s-word.” Seungyoon gets up from his make up chair and reminds them. “We don’t need to get mixed up in all these superhero business.”

“We are going to anyway.” Seunghoon cuts in. “I mean, didn’t this guy just save one of our members?”

“That’s that and I am really thankful for that.” Seungyoon nods. “But it’d be the best for us if we don’t try to associate ourselves with him in the public.”

Seunghoon grits his teeth and just stares at the mirror.

“Danah says Minho is awake.” Taehyun pipes in, holding out his phone which shows a picture message from Danah. Minho is in the photo, looking tired but smiling widely at the camera with a thumbs up.

“What an idiot.” Jinwoo says fondly.

Seunghoon drinks in Minho’s toothy smile, absorbing it until he can no longer remembers how small and scared Minho looked in his arms last night. 

“Tell her we are coming over soon.” Seungyoon says and urges the makeup noonas to finish up faster. 

The press conference is long but relatively painless. A lot of reporters want to focus on whether they have any relation to spider-man, but after Seungyoon blocks them politely that Winner or YG as a whole is not aware or involved with spider-man (Seunghoon hopes he doesn’t look too guilty when Seungyoon said that), they move onto your normal baity questions on if Minho has been drunk or is on drugs. 

When the press conference is finally done and they are allowed to visit Minho, it is already past noon and everyone is exhausted. Strangely enough, Minho is the one who looks the most rested among them.

“What is this?” Seungyoon says as soon as he steps into the hospital room. “They told us the head wound is minor. Why is the bandage on your head so big?”

Minho starts laughing before it turns into a cough. “That’s what my mom said as well. Seungyoon, you are now the official ajumma of the group.” 

Seungyoon blushes but he insistently checks Minho over like he has hidden medical knowledge. 

“Can you stop making us worried for like two minutes?” Taehyun says, dumping the big teddy bear a fan gives them on their way in onto the hospital bed.

“What is this?” Minho’s mom laughs. “Why are you getting scolded by the dongsaengs while the hyungs look like they are going to cry?”

“We are not.” Jinwoo denies blatantly like he hasn’t been wiping tears off his eyes and sits down on the chair next to the bed. “I am glad you are ok, dude. I was having a heart attack last night.”

“I am sorry to make you all worried.” Minho says. “But I maintain it’s not my fault.”

“We know it’s not your fault.” Seungyoon huffs. “We’ve been repeating that the whole morning in the press conference.”

“Yeah, I saw it online.” Minho nods. “I’m sorry. I gave you guys extra work.”

“Stop talking nonsense.” Taehyun says. “How are you feeling? Be honest.”

“I’m fine. Just my arm is a little sore and I feel like there’s a cloud in my throat.”

“Minho, did you send out a Facebook update?” Seungyoon asks, phone in his hand.

“Yeah, I asked the Facebook page admins. Why?”

“We are not supposed to mention spider-man.” Seungyoon says. 

“The dude saves my life!” Minho argues back. “I was just thanking him.”

“It’s probably fine.” Seungyoon says. “She wouldn’t have posted it if it wasn’t.”

“It was like watching an action movie.” Jinwoo says enthusiastically. “How he pulls you guys out of the car. There are videos online.”

“I am too traumatized to watch those.” Minho grunts. “But he was cool. His suit actually shoots out those spider web strings from the fingers. It was amazing.”

“You saw him?” Jinwoo gapes.

“Yeah. I was awake.” Minho replies and Seunghoon busies himself by pouring water into a plastic cup. 

“What is he like?” Seungyoon asks, forgetting his supposed professional unattachment. Even Taehyun looks curious. 

“I was quite drowsy, so I didn’t see much.” Minho shrugs. “But there is something very familiar about this guy. I don’t know.” 

Seunghoon drops the cup he is holding, sending water everywhere on the carpet and on himself. Minho’s mom comes over and hands him a tissue roll. Seunghoon wipes his wet shirt as much as he can, trying to not look at Minho. Way to act unsuspicious, Lee Seunghoon. 

Luckily enough, everyone gets distracted by Danah who comes into the room bearing boxes of pizza. Seunghoon could have kissed her. 

“Seunghoon hyung, why are you so quiet?” Minho asks while everyone else is too busy crowding around Danah to fend for their lunch. “You barely said a word.”

“I’m just glad you are ok.” He replies and sits down on the chair Jinwoo vacates. “Does it hurt?” He asks, pointing to the cast on Minho’s arm.

“Not as much as last night. Hey, do you want to sign it?” Minho asks, already leaning over to the table to get a pen. 

Seunghoon kneels on the bed, careful not to move Minho’s cast too much and signs his name. 

“Hyung, what is this?” Minho asks and Seunghoon turns to see Minho pointing at his chest. “Are you hurt?”

Shit. His shirt is wet enough for the shapes of bandages under his shirt to be seen. Seunghoon clumsily wraps an arm over the wet spot and almost falls off the bed in the process. 

“It’s medicinal bandage.” He says, practiced lie coming out easily. “My back was hurting again lately.”

“Hyung, you are in a hospital.” Seungyoon says, mouth full of pizza. “Go see a doctor afterwards.”

“I will do it later.” Seunghoon replies. Minho is looking at him strangely, and Seunghoon taps the end of the pen on his cast in an effort for distraction. “All done.”

Taehyun grabs the pen out of his hand and starts doodling on Minho’s cast, making Minho to whine that he is taking up too much space. With Minho successfully distracted, Seunghoon exhales a long breath and goes over to eat whatever meager pizza is left. He is going to have to come up with a lot better excuses. 

*

His suit is practically useless now. And he has no spare suit. Because he never thought he will be needing one. 

Seunghoon thinks it is a perfect enough excuse. People are going to be looking more closely now, so even online ordering of suit materials is going to be complicated. The burnt suit can symbolize his short-lived vigilante career and he can forget this for good.

But he can’t forget when the news reports say that the car Minho was in burned down minutes after everyone have been extracted, and if spider-man hasn’t been there, the delayed firemen would have to pick up corpses instead. 

He can’t forget when Minho’s mum tells him that she donated to the online “Thank You Spider-man” campaign. It is a fan made campaign that pledges to contribute all its donations to the national emergency response fund, and the cash amount donated has been rising steadily day by day. 

He can’t especially forget when he sometimes dreams at night of Minho’s terrified face slowly morphing into that of a young girl with an equally frightened look in her eyes. He doesn’t remember a lot of the people he has tried to help but he thinks he will always remember her. 

He meticulously cuts his ruined suit into small pieces, and burns them all together. He keeps his window shut at all times and plays music on his iPod loudly. But the heavy weight of guilt does not go away from his chest.

Seunghoon doesn’t believe in God or a higher power, and he doesn’t believe that he is chosen or there is a special reason behind what he refuses to call his “gifts”. But, he can’t deny the fact that he has this extraordinary something and he can use it for the good of other people. 

But the world is not his responsibility. His team is. He is so used to pain now that he doesn’t even care anymore if he gets hurt along the way, but he cannot drag his members down with him. He cannot singlehandedly ruin something that each of them has been pushing their whole life towards. 

Except that sometimes he imagines Minho trapped in the back of that car with no one at his aid. He imagines someone else having to watch their Minho in pain helplessly from a TV screen, praying for a miracle. 

The world may not be his responsibility, but maybe he can help unburden it a little. 

*

There is a spam email in his account. Usually, it filters all marketing mails directly into the junk box but the app doesn’t filter this one out. It’s an advertisement about a sportswear company having a warehouse sales on everything including their materials and machinery. Seems like one of those auctioning thing when a company goes down under. He is about to delete the email when he notices one of the materials advertised. A polycarbonate Lycra honeycomb fabric that is apparently military standard and lighter than your normal spandex.

He doesn’t know what a polycarbonate fabric is but the ad claims it to be lighter than cotton and tougher than most fabric – enough to be military standard. He goes down to the warehouse one evening after visiting Minho, a black mask on his face and a beanie hiding half of his head, although no one at the warehouse is paying attention to him. A lot of the customers there are older than him and obviously business people, buying things in a truck load. 

“This is a good choice of fabric.” The red-headed Caucasian lady says when he puts several fabric sheets on the counter. They are all grey because buying red and blue would be too obvious and he can dye them later anyway. “What are you planning on doing with it?”

“I am a fashion design student.” He effortlessly lies and pays with cash. 

“This is an extremely tough fabric.” She says in fluent Korean. “You should get a polycarbonate thread instead of a normal one.”

He nods dumbly and buys the threads too before leaving quickly. The lady is friendly enough but somehow he feels alert around her like she is someone dangerous. Which is stupid. She is just a saleslady. 

He spends two sleepless nights sewing the suit up with difficulty because he loses his initial sketches on the suit and he doesn’t have a sewing machine. The fabric indeed is lighter than his previous normal spandex and it clings to his body more comfortably than ever. After much thoughts, he cuts out a spider shape out of a dyed black fabric and pastes it onto the chest of the suit. 

On the eighth night after Minho’s accident, Seunghoon puts the finished suit on carefully, and opens his window again.


	5. Volume V: DISCLOSURE

Minho is back at the dorm after about two weeks. He was discharged earlier but his mom protests a storm until he is allowed to go home and rest for a couple of days. Minho keeps sending them annoyed messages about how much his mom is babying him but none of them has any sympathy for someone who is being fed and fawned over by their parents. 

“The thing about having so much free time is,” Minho says, lying with his feet hanging on the living room couch. “that I wrote so many songs, and they are all going to kill. It’s like my muse has been revived or some shit.”

“Maybe when you hit your head in the accident, it slammed the loose screw back into your brain?” Taehyun says and Seunghoon leans over to give him a high five, ignoring Minho’s offended protests.

“Are you sure you don’t want to come, Seunghoon hyung?” Seungyoon asks, posing a little in front of the mirror like he is going on runway instead of the gym.

“No, I went last night.” Seunghoon says. He didn’t, but he did chase a couple of attempted kidnappers about three blocks so it basically is the same thing. 

Minho gives the other three a smug goodbye as they complain their way out of the dorm, gym bags heavy on their shoulders.

“Have you been working out a lot, hyung?” Minho asks as Seunghoon settles on the couch with his laptop. “Your arms are getting bigger.”

“Sort of.” Seunghoon says, looking down at said arms. “And don’t think the trainer hyung is not gonna go extra hard on you after your arm is fully healed.” He warns Minho.

“I’ll cry about it when the time comes.” Minho laughs. “Do you want to listen to my new songs?”

He looks so enthusiastic that Seunghoon sighs and closes his laptop. He can do the choreo mapping later. 

“Sure.”

Minho bounces a little and takes out his phone. 

“You have all of them recorded already?” Seunghoon cackles, wondering how long Minho has been waiting to show them off.

“Of course,” Minho says. “How do you think I survive four days at mom’s place, bored out of my mind?”

“You poor baby,” Seunghoon pats his head and mock cries. 

“Shut up and prepare to be amazed.” Minho says and plays the first song. 

Seunghoon is. Minho plays about four or five songs, and even though they are all different beats and different themes, there is something so distinctively Minho about all of them. Seunghoon is tapping his fingers along to the rhythm and already imagining some of the moves he can do with a couple of the songs. 

But because Minho is looking annoyingly smug right now, Seunghoon pulls his best Mr. Yang face. “Minho-yah, there is no color of you in these. No color.” He hisses and Minho falls over laughing.

“I don’t think you are compatible with me, Minho-yah.” He continues, despite Minho trying to kick him. “You need to be more hippity-hoppy.”

Minho successfully kicks him off the couch and bounces on him. 

“Don’t say that. I am too traumatized.” Minho yelps but he is also laughing hard enough that Seunghoon can somehow feel the vibrations coming out of his chest.

“Minho-yah.” Seunghoon squeals. “Have more swag-swag.”

Minho starts tickling him with his good hand and Seunghoon tries to squirm his way out from under him, slapping uselessly against Minho’s thighs which are straddling his legs. 

“Sorry, sorry.” He laughs when Minho’s hand travels down his armpit to his waist. Minho knows that Seunghoon’s most ticklish spot is just under the dip of his waist and he is playing dirty enough now to abuse that knowledge. 

“Say my songs are amazing.” Minho snickers and puts his fingers threateningly on Seunghoon’s waist.

“My songs are amazing.” Seunghoon says and shrieks when Minho snorts and runs his fingers along his waist, blunt nails grazing his skin and leaving tiny goose bumps along the way. Seunghoon grabs and stops Minho’s hand with both of his hands but not before Minho’s fingers graze over some of the few burn marks scattered around his navel.

The atmosphere drastically changes when Minho stops laughing and lets out a gasp.

“What are these?” Minho’s says, eyes fixed on the scars on his lower belly. 

“Nothing.” Seunghoon pushes Minho off of him, and hastily sits up, making sure he pulls down his shirt. He can’t believe he is this stupid. His burns are all healed, and even the scars are already starting to fade, so he gets reckless and stops wearing bandages at home. Like a stupid moron. 

“I know burn marks when I see one, hyung.” Minho presses into his space. “They weren’t there before.”

“Just a couple of burns from the kitchen.” He lies, terrible even by his standard. “They are really nothing.”

“Don’t lie to me.” Minho snaps and tries to get a hold of his shirt.

“Ya. Mind your own business.” He tries to push Minho away when he tries to lift up his shirt to get a better look, but Minho pushes him back, causing both of them to lose balance and fall over onto the couch.

Minho takes advantage of Seunghoon losing his footing so suddenly, and before Seunghoon’s reflexes kick in, Minho is sitting on top of Seunghoon’s hips, the good hand already lifting up Seunghoon’s threadbare shirt. 

“These are not just a couple of burns.” Minho whispers. Seunghoon sucks in a breath as Minho’s trembling fingers touch his healed burns. He knows what the red ugly veiny welts look like and he wants to tell Minho that they’ll go away in a couple of weeks and he will be good as news, and that it doesn’t even hurt anymore. But he doesn’t know where to start.

He doesn’t even know how to look at Minho in the eyes.

“What the fuck, Lee Seunghoon.” Minho says, choked voice dropping out of his mouth in low trembles. “What the fuck.”

“I’m fine.” He says because he doesn’t know what else he can say, and grabs Minho’s shaking hand. “I am fine.”

“You are not fucking fine.” Minho’s confusion seems to change into anger, and he yells, shaking Seunghoon off and standing up unsteadily. “Who did this to you?”

“It was an accident.” Seunghoon pleads. Minho is breathing harshly through his mouth like something is choking his windpipe. “Minho, please.”

“They were not there last month.” Minho says like he doesn’t hear whatever Seunghoon is saying. “I saw you change in our last photo shoot. They definitely were not there.”

“I - It’s just,” Seunghoon stutters, blinking away the heat behind his eyes. It really is not the fucking time for his tears to come out. “Can you please forget this? Please? I am really ok.”

“You have fucking burn marks all over you. How am I supposed to forget?” Minho snaps. “I am calling manager hyung.”

“No,” Seunghoon leaps off the couch and grabs Minho by his shoulder, putting in just enough force to stop Minho from walking forward. “You can’t. Minho, please. Listen to me.”

“I am listening.” Minho growls. “You’d better have a damn good explanation because I am all ears.”

“I don’t,” Seunghoon swallows, but the suffocated feeling in the back of his throat does not go away. “I don’t have a good explanation.” 

“You can start with how you get these.” Minho growls. “You don’t just wake up one morning with burn scars all over you!”

God, Seunghoon can’t fuck up more if he tries. 

“There was a fire.” He says finally. “And I got caught in it.” 

“We live and work together. When did you have time to go and get yourself in a fire?” Minho snaps, voice dropping lower and lower like he usually does when he is angry. “Hell, I am the one who was in a fucking burning car and even my injuries are not that…” 

Minho’s voice trails off. Seunghoon holds his breath and waits for the inevitable punch line to come and knock him over. This is it. This is the first blow of wind that knocks down his already unstable house of cards. 

He tries to grasp at Minho’s good hand because while Seunghoon can take a lot of hits, he is not sure he can take one from Minho. But, Minho’s hand is immobile in his own, like the boy himself. Minho has always been the expressive one. Of all the members in the group, Seunghoon never has to guess or doubt what Minho is feeling at any given time. But right now, Seunghoon cannot read anything from Minho’s face other than the obvious shock. 

“Minho,” Seunghoon calls. He is afraid of what is going to come, but he is more afraid of the way Minho is looking at him now, like he is a stranger, someone to be scared of. 

It’s like his voice flips a switch inside Minho. He pulls his hand out from Seunghoon’s grasp, and stumbles backwards. Seunghoon rushes to catch him in case he falls but Minho shrugs him off, leaning onto the nearby table instead. 

“I can’t remember that well,” Minho mutters. “It was all happening so quickly but I remember there was fire. All over his chest.”

Minho surges forward, right into Seunghoon’s face and pushes hard on his scars. 

“Right here. The fire was all over here.” Minho mumbles like he is talking to himself. “That suit, god, that fucking ridiculous suit. The fire burnt a hole right through it.”

Seunghoon looks away.

“And you were wearing bandages over the same area the very next day. Tell me I am wrong,” Minho grips his hand tight on Seunghoon’s shirt until the fabric is wrinkled and tensed in his hand. “Tell me I am fucking wrong. That you are not him. That you are not stupid enough to pull something like this.”

Seunghoon laughs, humourless. “You know I am exactly that stupid, Minho.” 

Where is the point in denying anyway? Minho is not dumb despite the façade he puts on sometimes. He is going to catch up one way or another. Seunghoon might as well just save them both from useless lies and deceits. 

“Fuck you,” Minho shouts into his face. “Do you think this is fucking funny? What were you even thinking? You could have died, you stupid bastard!”

“Well, so could you.” Seunghoon shouts back, frustration fusing in with fear. He is tired of this too. This lying and hiding and trying to pretend that he is normal. “But you are not, and neither am I.”

“So, this is what you do?” Minho snarls, letting go of him and pushing him backwards. “Going around at night like some sort of kkangpae beating people up?”

Seunghoon tightens his hands into fists, fingernails digging into his palm painfully. “You know that’s not what I do.”

“No, I don’t know anything about you, do I? I only thought I did.” Minho laughs, ruthless and ugly. 

He is just feeling betrayed and angry. Seunghoon knows that. But it doesn’t mean that every sneered word out of Minho’s mouth pierces through him like a shot into the chest. He thinks he prefers to just have his ribs broken or his chest burned off again. 

“Where do you even get that suit?” Minho says. “And how the fuck do you heal so quickly? Are you… god…are you even human?”

Well, that is the million dollar question, isn’t it?

Seunghoon has asked himself that over and over in the darkness of his bedroom for the past six months, staring at his sticky fingertips covered in web strings and trying uselessly to block out the invading sounds in his ears. 

Maybe he is not. Maybe he is some kind of monster freak show. Who even reacts to a spider bite like that? When his sister got bitten by a spider when she was 10, the most that happened was a swelling and a non-stop crying throughout the night. 

“I don’t know.” He answers truthfully. 

Minho stares at him in a way that Seunghoon is not used to: fearful and worried, and maybe even a little disgusted. 

“Leave me alone,” Minho mutters.

Seunghoon grabs him. “You can’t tell anyone.” 

Minho purses his lips, a sure sign that there are gonna be tears in near future. “Fuck off.” He hisses and staggers towards his room, slamming the door so roughly that the door hinges squeak in protest. 

Seunghoon stares at the closed door. Maybe it symbolises their relationship now. Closed off and divided and angry. 

God, they haven’t even been debuted yet. They haven’t even started anything.

Seunghoon crosses the distance.

“Open the door, Minho.” He bangs on the door and shouts. He can break down the door but he doesn’t think he can explain that one to the others. Thumping Hip hop beats come from inside the room, loud and angry. Seunghoon bangs on the door more violently. 

“I will break this fucking door down if you don’t open it.” He shouts over the music.

The door is pulled open two seconds later.

“I told you to leave me alone.” Minho says. His eyes are red and his face is puffy, and Seunghoon doesn’t even need to see the residual tears to know what this means. And honestly, this hurts him the most. That he is the reason behind Minho's distress. 

“I am sorry,” He says, as sincerely as he could because there is nothing else he can offer. “For lying and hiding this from you.”

“Yeah, well.” Minho sniffles. “You did anyway.”

“What do you want me to do?” Seunghoon asks. “Just. Don’t shut me out. Please.”

“I want you to not die or hurt yourself, you bastard.” Minho says through gritted teeth. “But for now, I want you to leave me alone. Don’t worry.” He laughs dryly. “I won’t tell your stupid secret to anyone, alright?”

Seunghoon nods numbly. “Ok. You know I am just next door.”

Minho doesn’t say anything, and closes the door instead. 

Seunghoon leans his forehead on the cold wooden door and bites back his tears.


	6. Volume VI: HONESTY

Seunghoon can hear the others coming back from the gym, noisy with complaints and exaggerated groans. 

If he hadn’t started this whole spider-man bullshit, maybe Seunghoon would be with them, laughing and arguing whether spaghetti is an acceptable after work-out meal. 

But then, Minho won’t probably be here, and Seunghoon will take an alive and hurt Minho over a dead one. It is almost worth it when he puts it this way. Maybe his friendship or whatever he has with Minho is the price he has to pay to have Minho here. The universe is extremely unfair like that, but the alternative is too frightening for him to even consider. 

Jinwoo knocks on his door and asks if he wants dinner. Seunghoon can hear Taehyun doing the same to Minho. 

Neither of them answers. 

Seunghoon sits with his back to the wall, ears trained on any movement from Minho’s room, but so far, it is just static. He can hear the others having dinner in the living room, talking over each other like any other normal day, unaware of the silent war going on two feet in front of them. 

He must have been sitting there for hours; his butt is going numb and his legs are stinging but he has no desire to move anywhere. He only sits up a little straighter when he hears the door next to his room creaking open and closed. Everyone else had retreated back to their room – it must have been at least midnight. 

Seunghoon gets up and shakes his numb legs.

When he pulls open his bedroom door, Minho’s room door is slightly ajar but he is not in his room, or anywhere in the house. He is not in the hallway either, but the lift is going up towards the roof.

Seunghoon takes the stairs.

The night is chillier than he thought it would be, and Seunghoon folds his arm over his thin shirt. There is a stream of smoke coming from among the potted plants, the white haze disappearing in between the thick leaves of the plants that none of them actually know the name of. 

Minho is sitting on the rusty bench that has seen and endured too much rains and snows, a half burnt cigarette in his hand. 

Minho doesn’t yell at him or run away when Seunghoon joins him on the bench, which is more than Seunghoon is hoping for, really. 

Seunghoon plucks the lit cigarette out of Minho’s hand and takes an inhale. He doesn’t normally smoke but the mood seems to fit now, dirty and heavy like a hit of tobacco to the brain is. 

“Why do you do it?” Minho asks, after the cigarette is almost gone.

Seunghoon cannot say he wasn’t expecting questions, but he was thinking more along the line of “how do you do it?” or “how could you lie to me?”

“There’s a girl.” Seunghoon says, pointing towards the apartment about two blocks away from their dorm. If he squints, he can even see the same blue flower pot hanging on the balcony. “Right about there. She’s 6, I think. Or 7, I am not sure.” He steals a last huff from the cigarette before tossing it onto the ground. 

“Her dad beats up her mom a lot. Her too, actually. And she cries so much. Like every night. You know, the kind of heavy cries that shakes your entire body. Sometimes, if her dad is home and he hears her, he would hit her more. I think those are the worst. Hearing her cries fade into silent ones like she is in too much pain to even make a sound.”

“That apartment is at least 300 meters away from here.” Minho says. 

“But I heard her.” Seunghoon shrugs. “Guess you were right when you said there are a lot you don’t know about me.”

Minho doesn’t comment. He just nods like a go-ahead for Seunghoon to continue. 

“I called the police, pretended I was one of neighbours and reported the guy. But nothing happened. She stopped for maybe like two days and it got worse. Then one night, her mom yelled. She never cries or shouts. The mom. But she screamed that night.”

Seunghoon can still remember it. He was still getting used to controlling his senses back then and the mom’s scream pierced through the night like a needle aimed at his eardrums. He remembers sitting up on his bed in sudden shock, not sure if it is a nightmare until a second scream followed. 

“So, I ran over there. There are a couple of people looking out of their houses but no one is doing anything and it just makes me so mad, you know. Like, they know this shit is happening right under their nose but they don’t even fucking care.”

“Did you beat up the bastard?” Minho asks.

“Yeah, I think it’s the first time I’ve broken someone’s nose.” 

Very badly actually. He didn't realize how much weight his punch carries, so the guy went down at the first hit, blood from his broken face spluttering onto Seunghoon’s black mask and hoodie.

“It’s difficult to imagine you breaking someone’s nose.”

“I have done worse.” Seunghoon says truthfully, shaking his head when Minho hands him the open cigarette pack. He doesn’t need to enable another unhealthy habit in his life.

Minho is silent for a long time, struggling to get the cigarette lit in the harsh wind. 

“So, what happens after?” He asks, inhaling a long puff. “You saved the kid? And decided to become a what? Superhero?”

“I don’t know,” Seunghoon says. “They move away. We were busy wrapping up for Winner TV back then, and when I finally got the time to check, there is no one living there anymore.”

His best hope is that the mom and kid moves away and the dad is sent to rot in jail where he belongs. That’s the only thing he can do for now. Hope. 

“After that, I don’t know. It just seems like the right thing to do.”

“Right thing?” Minho snaps. “What? Dressing up like some vigilante and playing god?”

“Does god think you should die?” Seunghoon snaps back. “Because if he does, fuck him. I am not letting you go anywhere.” 

Minho looks away into the night. The cigarette in his hand is forgotten, light wasting away. 

“You know,” Minho laughs drily. “I kept thinking what I could possibly say to him if I ever met him. How do you even say thank you to someone who saved your fucking life? But now, the only thing I can think of is you could have died too.”

“But I didn’t. Look at me,” Seunghoon reaches out to grip Minho’s shoulder, the well-worn hoodie soft and warm under his palm. “I know the scars look bad but they honestly don’t even hurt that much and they’ll fade away in like a week.”

“I can’t make you stop this thing, can I?” Minho asks, frustrated and upset.

Seunghoon thinks he can, but he’d rather Minho doesn’t try. 

“I am not doing this to play god or hero or whatever.” Seunghoon hesitates. One wrong step and he is going to be dealing with Minho’s (and probably his own) tears. And after the kind of day he has, he’d rather not. 

“I hate it, you know. I hate how I can hear things from a mile away or how my fingers just happen to sweat out web strands. It’s not like I asked for this.” Seunghoon breathes in the cold air, reality choking at his throat. Saying things that you haven’t even admitted to yourself is never easy. “I think the only time I can stand myself is when I am using my – what do I even call them? Powers? Abilities? – to help someone.”

“You are more stupid than I thought.” Minho snarls, dropping his cigarette onto the ground and stomping on it aggressively. “Who cares if you can do weird shit? You don’t owe anyone anything.”

“I care,” Seunghoon breaks. “I just want to sing and dance, and maybe get a little popular. I don’t want to be some kind of monster.” 

“You are not,” Minho yells. “I know I said shit earlier but I was angry, and you know I say a lot shit when I am not in the right kind of mind.”

“It’s nothing I haven’t said to myself.” Seunghoon admits. 

Minho turns towards him suddenly and grabs him by the nape of his neck with his good hand. “You shouldn’t. Maybe you are human. Maybe you are not. I don’t care. I know the others won’t care. You are still ours.” 

Seunghoon tries to blink away the heat behind his eyes but it only results in hot tears dropping onto his cheeks. He tries to hide his face but Minho is right in front of his eyes, leaning in until his forehead touches Seunghoon’s. 

"I am mad at you." Minho whispers. "But I am also so scared for you. God, I wasn't even this scared when I thought I was dying."

“I am sorry. About everything.” Seunghoon swallows and mumbles. 

“Stop apologising.” Minho whispers and pushes Seunghoon until his head is completely buried in Minho’s shoulder. He should probably apologise again for ruining Minho’s hoodie with his tears and snots.

“God, how long have you been holding this in?” Minho says into his neck. “Just by yourself.”

Seunghoon struggles to catch his breath. “It was my choice.”

“I know but it shouldn’t have to be.” 

“You can’t tell the others.” Seunghoon wipes his face clumsily and stares at Minho seriously. “I know it’s unfair to ask you this, but they can’t know. Everyone already has too much to worry about.”

Minho looks torn. Seunghoon knows the weight of lying to the people he is closet to. And he hates himself every minute for putting this burden on Minho as well, but he can’t deal with everyone knowing about him. The slightest chance of any of them hating or being scared of him frightens him down to his bones. Maybe he lucks out with Minho, or maybe it hasn’t fully hit Minho that Seunghoon is a freak of nature, but he can’t take another chance. 

"Please," he pleads at Minho.

“Promise me.” Minho replies finally. “Promise me that you’d hold back, that you won’t get yourself hurt badly.”

“I promise.” Seunghoon says, even though he is not sure how long he can hold that promise. It’s not like every person he faces out there is going to be abiding by the same promise. “I promise I’ll try my best.”

“Ok,” Minho nods. “I don’t like it. I don’t like any one bit of it, and to be honest, I don't understand it. But, I know you are stubborn as fuck and if you think this is something you have to do, just promise me that you will take care of yourself."

“I will,” Seunghoon nods and holds Minho tighter. His heart feels a thousands time lighter, which is strange because he doesn’t even realize it was this heavy from the start. “Can we stay up here for a while?”

“Sure,” Minho says and shifts until he is sitting cross-legged with Seunghoon’s head on his shoulder. “I don’t think I can sleep now anyway.” 

Minho lights another cigarette and Seunghoon dries his tears among the smoke. 

“You never said how you, you know, do the things you do.” Minho asks after the silence has stretched comfortably long. 

“Spider bite.” Seunghoon mumbles.

Minho laughs at him. “Bullshit.”


	7. Volume VII: BEGINNINGS

“DONE!”

Seunghoon thinks even the security guard uncles in the downstairs car park probably heard Mino yelling.

“I can’t believe our album is finally done.” Minho yells again, this time thankfully in lower decibels, but still loud enough that one of the producers who is passing by their recording room pokes her head in to see what is going on. “Our first album!”

And because Seungyoon is a bastard leader who would not only encourage but also join in with the stupidity of his members, he is joining Minho in doing some weird celebration dance instead of stopping him. Seunghoon pushes himself in between them and does a quick three-steps break dance just because he can, and also because he is too ecstatic not to.

Months and months of meetings and setbacks and writing and recording and rejections and more recordings and even more recordings have paid off. Finally. Seunghoon thought he would turn 40 first before he gets to see the album finishing. Which is a bit of an exaggeration but at times, it truly felt like it. 

Minho has stopped dancing and is now screaming gibberish in Jinwoo’s face who is screaming back like some form of wildlife communication based on screeches. 

“You do know we still have to send this to Mr. Yang for final approval, right?” Taehyun, who is the only one looking fairly well-adjusted, asks. “We might have to go back to recording.”

“Don’t be a spoilsport.” Seungyoon says, hands grabbing at Seunghoon’s shoulders until he gives in and turns around to give Seungyoon a piggy back. “We are going to debut an awesome album and win all the awards and becomes kings.”

“Am I the king’s horse then?” Seunghoon laughs. Seungyoon is not staying still on his back and trying to shake him by the collar like he is holding a rein. “Why are you kicking my sides?”

“Go faster, king’s horse.” Seungyoon giggles and kicks him harder.

Seunghoon throws them both onto the ground and groans melodramatically. “I can’t. The king is too heavy. My poor back.”

“Ya, go easy on him.” Minho suddenly turns from whatever weird shit he was doing with Jinwoo, and snaps, voice serious enough for Seungyoon to sober up from laughing.

“I am just kidding.” Seunghoon cuts in quickly. 

“Yeah, what’s with you?” Seungyoon asks, baffled. “I wasn’t even doing anything.” 

“I have carried heavier grocery bags than Seungyoon. Don’t worry.” Seunghoon adds in because Minho still looks slightly agitated.

Minho has been extremely sensitive about Seunghoon’s injuries ever since the unfortunate day when he found out about Seunghoon’s less-than-preferable nightly activities. He insists on checking Seunghoon over every morning for fresh injuries until Seunghoon flat out threatens him to web him to his bed. Even then, he is always weary and alert whenever Seunghoon lets out even the slightest hints of being in pain or discomfort.

While it warms Seunghoon’s heart at the same time, he doesn’t want Minho to worry that much either. He has been taking care of himself perfectly fine – sure, he has a couple of scraps and bruises from here and there, but nothing major (none since Minho’s accident anyway), and he has been keeping his promise of taking it lightly on his body, more or less.

Fighting is a lot easier when he uses much more web and fewer fists. 

“Don’t be jealous of my sexy slim body, hyung.” Seungyoon says, and does some sort of body waving dance that is truly heinous. 

“Please never do that in public.” Taehyun says solemnly.

“Shall we celebrate?” Jinwoo cuts in and asks before Seungyoon and Taehyun can start bickering, because when Seungyoon is feeling indulgent enough, he will bite Taehyun’s baits until everyone around them is sick of them pulling each other’s pigtails. “Let’s do a barbeque or something. The weather’s nice so we can go out to the roof.”

“Our dorm’s roof?” Taehyun scoffs, even though his eyes are shining at the mention of meat. “It’s a rainforest up there. Where are we going to even set up the grill?”

“Do it here,” Seunghoon suggests. “Ask manager hyung if we can bring the grill up to the roof for a couple of hours. We can invite whoever is around too.”

Seungyoon agrees and hightails out of the room, already phoning manager hyung. 

Forty minutes later, they are all up on the roof, impatiently listening to the electric grill sizzling under a bunch of meat fillets that Minho and Jinwoo bought from a nearby store. A couple of people wanders up, probably following the smell of the meat through the building. Good thing Minho bought enough meat to feed a small village. 

Seunghoon hands the grill tongs over to Junhwe in unabashed pleasure when the team B kids arrive. At least, this maknae knows his duty, unlike his own, who is stuffing Kimchi into his mouth while hopping from leg to leg in front of the grill. 

“You look like Lee Hee when she needs to pee. Sit down.” Seunghoon instructs Taehyun, who waves him off and pokes at Junhwe to go faster. 

Seungyoon and manager hyung are quietly talking in a corner, and Seunghoon is about to interrupt when he hears a car screeches, in a way that suggests it almost hits something unpleasant, and an accompanying cry. 

“Did you hear that?” Jinwoo asks from where he is pouring out drinks. “Was that a scream?”

Seunghoon guesses the voice comes from about a block (or two most) away, so it makes sense that there are other people who can hear the faint echoes of it as well. Soohyun starts arguing with Jinwoo on whether it actually is a scream for help or just some kids playing around. 

Seunghoon knows it is not some kids playing around. 

“I need to go to washroom for a bit.” Seunghoon lies, and ducks his way towards the staircase.

Minho blocks his path. “I’ll come with you.”

Seunghoon tries to silently ask him what the hell he thinks he is doing, but Minho just throws his arm around Seunghoon’s shoulders and pulls him down the stairs. 

“You know I am not actually going to the washroom.” Seunghoon whispers once they are out the hearing range of the roof. 

“Of course,” Minho replies, voice brittle. “Do you really have to go? Now? It probably is not even anything serious.”

“Minho,” Seunghoon sighs, and wipes his hand on his face. “We’ve been over this.”

“I know,” Minho says, voice small as if he is a child asking for his favorite toy. “But it’s still way too early for you to, you know, spider-man.”

“I can sense…” Seunghoon trails off. Probably not a great choice of word. “I sort of know it is something serious, alright? And I really need to go now before anything really bad happens.”

Minho looks like he wants to argue more, but luckily, he just nods unhappily. “Fine. Go. I’ll cover for you.” 

“Thank you,” Seunghoon clasped Minho’s hands briefly and jogs towards the washroom, the one place that doesn’t have any camera in the building. It’s lucky for whoever is letting out the scream earlier that Seunghoon has plans to go out tonight and is already wearing the suit underneath his layers of clothes. 

Good thing about the suit is it doubles as decent thermal underwear. Seunghoon doesn’t know yet how he will manage to not sweat to death in summer though. 

He locks the stall with his clothes from the inside and crawls up the wall, laughing to himself when he imagines Mr. Yang coming into the washroom now and seeing spider-man sticking upside down on the ceiling. 

He easily jumps through the tiny window in the washroom. It is risky as hell, he knows, especially when it is still broad daylight outside, but this is the best and quickest option he can think of. He’ll have to think of another when he gets back in. 

His intuitions were right. There is a taxi parked slightly slanted two blocks over, driver nowhere to be found. He flattens himself onto a nearby rooftop and zones his ear in to the people chattering in the street. 

Apparently, there was a black car and some people in masks who blocked the taxi and forced the taxi driver into the back of the car. How very Hollywood-action-movie of them. 

There are not a lot of paths the kidnapping car could have gone given that this is a one-way highway, so Seunghoon runs along the street, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, every leap giving his heart a silly sense of joy and something that almost feel like freedom. 

It’d be faster to swing his way forward but he is not entirely comfortable with swinging in broad daylight yet. Even at nights, there are more and more people who have been spotting him from times to times, gaping at him. Seunghoon can’t tell if their gasp of breaths come from awe or disgust or fear. And he prefers it that way. 

Minho was right to worry about him coming out during the day but Seunghoon has a feeling. Which is stupid to say it out loud but it is like there is an alarm in the back of his head that goes off at certain things. Like when someone is about to hit the back of his head with a four-by-two. 

Minho calls it spider-sense. Seunghoon calls it fucking annoying. 

The alarm has been going off ever since he heard the scream, like this is something Seunghoon should really pay attention to. He had given up trying to figure out what it means long times back. Going with his instincts is far easier these days.

Soon, he can sees a black van with black tinted windows parked in a slightly deserted lane in front of a grimy apartment. The van is decorated – for the lack of a better word – with crude graffiti and gun/skull stickers all over it. They might just as well have spray-painted “we kidnap people” on their dark and ominous van. 

He hides behind a large plant on the roof across the apartment, focusing his attention on second floor where he can hears thuds and muffled screams. The noises silence down for a while and Seunghoon prepares for an imminent assault but nothing happens.

Except for a couple of guys who skit out of the apartment, and climb into the van before driving away.

Well, that was anticlimactic.

Seunghoon considers going after them, but he can still hears the groans of pains coming from the apartment, which means they left whoever they took inside. It is probably a holding area of some kind.

He was expecting at least a guard or two when he drops into the suspected hallway from a large airy window, but there are none. 

Same with the inside of the room. 

There is no one except for a guy in his forties who is lying on the his chest, groaning into the dirty carpet. Seunghoon doesn’t need to see the multiple muddy footprints on his white shirt to know that this guy probably has just been kicked the shit out of him. 

His hands are tied backwards, same with his legs, which means no matter how much the guy is trying to wiggle his way up, he keeps losing his balance. 

Seunghoon crosses the room and helps the guy up, ripping the tight ropes bound of his hands and feet.

At first, the guy squeals in confusion but when he sees Seunghoon, the squeal turns into a real panicked scream. 

“What the hell,” Seunghoon hisses through the mask, temporarily thankful for the gag in the man’s mouth. “I am trying to help.”

The man takes off the gag from his mouth once his hands are freed. By Seunghoon. You are welcome.

“Get away from me, you son of a bitch.” The man says, which Seunghoon thinks, is a little dramatic and a lot unreasonable. 

“I just saved your life.”

“I didn’t ask you to.” The man spats, voice laced with more fear than anger. “Why are you always around me?”

“I have never seen you before in my life.” Seunghoon answers in confusion. Not showing him gratitude is fine, but hostility? Seunghoon can’t think anything he has done as spider-man for this stranger uncle to be this aggressive towards him. 

“You don’t even remember, do you?” The guy says, hands gripping over his chest. “You pulled me out of a fire not two months ago.”

“You are the driver.” Seunghoon utters in recognition. “You are driving when Min… Song Minho was in an accident.”

He doesn’t remember the face of the driver. All he knows is that the driver was alive with injuries that are more serious that Minho’s but not serious enough to considered major. 

Which makes what is happening here less sense. 

If Seunghoon has saved this guy’s life twice, why is he acting he’d just seen the devil?

“What do they want with you?” Seunghoon asks the guy still sitting on the floor and rubbing his reddened wrist. “You owe them money?”

“No, they want you, you bastard.” 

“What?” Seunghoon blurts out in genuine surprise. “Why would they want me? Actually, don’t answer that. Why would they beat you up if they want me?”

The guy mumbles something at the floor, something so mashed up and soft that Seunghoon cannot decipher it even with his hearing level.

“Speak up.” He says to the man, deciding last minute to forgo the formalities even though the man is probably as old as his dad. 

“I said I gave an interview, alright?” The man spats. “Some magazine offers me money to talk about you.”

“So?” Seunghoon asks. “A lot of people talk about me in media. What makes you so special?”

“I told them I can identify you.” The man grumbles. 

“You weren’t even awake when I pulled you out of that burning car!” Seunghoon shrieks. 

“It’s not like that makes a difference.” The man yells back. “Everyone is accusing different people to be you, from the president to their neighbor.” 

“You can’t be serious.” Seunghoon sighs. “Do you honestly not know the difference between a few people talking shit online and saying in printed media that you know who spider-man is?”

Honestly, Seunghoon doesn’t think anyone deserves violence, but this dude kind of invited it himself.

“Find your way out of here,” he grumbles. “And stay out of trouble. I can’t be always around to pull you out.”

“Fuck you,” the guy spats back. “You are the one who needs to stay away from me.”

The nerves of this guy. Seunghoon temporarily considers webbing his mouth shut but it is a waste of his webs. 

“Well, you are welcome.” He says with a bow and jumps out of the window, sticking his fingers to the nearby wall. The sun is setting low over his head and he takes advantage of it by swinging his way under the shadows towards the dorm. 

He is not that surprised that some gang is looking for him. There was a loan shark ring who tried to come at him before by cornering him one night. Apparently, hurting their lackey gangster-wannabes does not sit well with the organized crime people. 

But he is a little worried at the way they are going. Obviously, the driver invites it by saying he knows who Spider-man is, but as he said, there are more than a handful of people (mostly online) claiming to know or claiming to be spider-man. And Seunghoon hasn’t heard anyone getting hurt over it. 

His main concern now, however, is Minho. There is no guarantee that they are not coming after Minho as well although Minho is a public figure and he is not stupid enough or even allowed to talk about spider-man in the press. The risk might be relatively low but Seunghoon can’t take even low risk like this. 

Maybe he should be sticking around Minho more diligently from now on. 

He drops onto the dorm’s rooftop and quickly scales down the drain pipes into his room and changes into his normal clothes before running back to the YG building. The security uncle seems confused because he doesn’t see Seunghoon going out but he manages to assure him that he just misses Seunghoon. 

When he gathers up his things from the toilet stall and goes back up the roof, the meat is almost all gone even though he has been away for at most half an hour. The only thing left are the fats and rinds that no one wants because everyone knows they come with extra gym hours.

Seunghoon happily picks them up because he has too much extra exercise it’s not even funny.

“Are you ok now?” Jinwoo asks as Seunghoon bites into a particularly greasy rind. 

“Huh?” Seunghoon asks in confusion.

“Minho says you have diarrhea. Are you sure you should be eating that? Have you taken any medicine?”

Seunghoon glares at Minho over Jinwoo’s head, who just gives him a smirk.

“I am fine hyung. Just ate some bad Kimchi last night.” He replies.

“Still.” Jinwoo says and eyes at Seunghoon’s plate. “Stop eating these. They are bad for you. I’ll make you herbal tea when we reach home.”

“No,” Seunghoon groans in horror. Jinwoo’s herbal teas are made with love but love doesn’t translate into tasting good or even tolerable. “I am really fine.”

Jinwoo doesn’t seem convinced and Seunghoon can see nasty herbal tea in his near future. 

He is going to kill Song Minho.

*

“This is all very dramatic, isn’t it?” Minho says, chin poking into Seunghoon’s shoulder as they look at the news website reporting the kidnapping incident earlier on Minho’s phone. 

Seunghoon would rather not discuss this with Minho, but Minho is extremely persistent, even bringing up the new article he saves on his phone and demanding to know what happened. 

“I can’t believe the driver just claims that it was some loan sharks.” Minho says, reading through the report. “Ungrateful asshole.”

“Hopefully he learns his lesson to not talk shit.” Seunghoon sighs. “You need to be careful too. We don’t know if they are coming after you either.”

Minho blinks like the thought never even occurred to him. “Well, I am more well-known and protected than that guy so hopefully not. I mean, I don’t think Mr. Yang will sit stay and let those sons of bitches get away if they beat the shit out of me.”

“Let’s not find out, yeah?” Seunghoon says and taps his fingers lightly on Minho’s bare knee. When he lifts them, there is a few web strands sticking lightly between his fingers and Minho’s skin. 

“That’s so weird.” Minho comments, playing with the broken web strands. “Does it hurt? When these come out of your fingers?”

“No,” Seunghoon answers truthfully. “It just feels like sweating. With more stickiness.”

“Hmm,” Minho nods, run his hands over Seunghoon’s fingertips. “I have a question.”

“No, I am still not making you a hammock out of spider webs.” Seunghoon snorts.

“Shut up.” Minho slaps his hand. “it’s an awesome idea and you know it. But, I was talking about that.” He points towards the screen where there is a picture of the taxi showing noticeable dent in the side from where the black van has hit it before the assailants took the driver.

“It is too dramatic, don’t you think?” Minho continues. “I mean, if they want a taxi driver, why not just flag the cab and let him drive into some secluded area?”

“Are you sure you are not doubling as a crime overlord?” Seunghoon asks.

Minho rolls his eyes. “I am serious. That is an extremely busy area and it wasn’t even dark. It’s like they want to get caught or something.”

“Or,” Seunghoon says, a thought nagging at the back of his mind. “They want me to know.”

“They want you to know they are looking for you? Why would they do that? Isn’t it better to catch you unaware?”

“I don’t know.” Seunghoon shrugs. “Who knows how their heads work, but I have this feeling.”

“Spider-sense.”

“Don’t call it that. I just sort of feel like they want me to know they are out there. I mean, they could have waited for me with the driver but there was no one there, and no one was following me. I checked.”

Minho grabs his hand firmly. “Are you saying they are trying to threaten you?”

“Maybe. It’s more like posturing, I guess. But I am not sure what to make of it.”

Minho sighs and drops Seunghoon’s hand, lying down on Seunghoon’s bed. “I can’t believe you are fighting against fucking gangsters. Like actual real gangsters.”

“It’s a little cool, right?” Seunghoon lies down besides him and asks. 

“Nothing is cool about you possibly getting murdered.” Minho snaps. 

“Hey, come on.” Seunghoon puts his hand on Minho’s head and turn it until they are nose to nose. “I won’t let anything like that happen. I promised you, remember? I mean, who is going to be the visual of the group if I am not around? I can’t leave a bunch of four ugly kids to debut by themselves.”

Minho snorts. “You better keep your promise then.”

“I will,” Seunghoon swears solemnly. At this distance, he can see the scar on Minho’s forehead close to his hairline, the leftover evidence from his accident. When he traced the ridged skin with his thumb, Minho closes his eyes and exhales out a breath. 

“I won’t let anything happen to me. Or to any of you. I promise.”

And he intends to keep it.


	8. Volume VIII: TRAPS

“In case you don’t notice,” Seunghoon gestures to his body clad in the tight spandex. “This doesn’t allow any pocket. Where am I going to put it? Up my butt?”

“If you have to!” Minho argues, stubborn and unrelenting. “I can only cover for you so much. Last time, Seungyoon was asking where you went without your phone.”

“How about I turn it off before I leave?” Seunghoon tries to compromise. Minho has been insisting him to take his phone when he is out at night, but seriously, where exactly is he going to put it?

“Just take it with you.” Minho grouches. “Sew a pocket or something. It’s much easier if I know I can contact you when you are out for so long.”

“I can’t stop and answer the phone when there is a fist flying in my face.” Seunghoon sighs. 

Minho purses his lips glumly like he does every time Seunghoon reminds him that he is usually in a fight whenever he dons the suit - which is more or less every other night. “And what are you going to do if you are hurt badly? You can’t go to a hospital. You can’t ask for help from anyone.”

Seunghoon groans and tries not to pull his hair out in frustration.

“I am not asking much from you, hyung.” Minho changes his tone from demanding to placating, a tone he knows that will work better on Seunghoon. “I watch you go out every night and get yourself in dangerous situations because I know that’s what you feel like you have to do, but it makes me so worried. It’s like I’ve aged ten years in the last month.”

“You don’t need to worry.” Seunghoon says gently.

“I can’t help it.” Minho replies. “Can you? If you are in my place?”

“I guess not.” Seunghoon sighs, relenting. “Fine. I’ll figure something out later. Let me just go without it tonight. I really don’t have anywhere to put it.”

Minho sighs. “Alright. Don’t get hurt too much.” 

“When have I ever?” Seunghoon laughs and slips the mask on, before opening the window and climbing onto the frame, the cold night air inviting him like it is offering to scratch an itch under his skin. 

“Why does this feel like a wife sending off her husband to work?” He turns and asks Minho, who is still glaring at him with folded arms. 

“More like sending you off to war.” Minho mutters. 

“See you later, honey.” Seunghoon winks only to remember Minho can’t see his face, and jumps out from the window ledge. 

Tonight is mostly quiet. There are no usual gangsters walking around shady areas, no drug deals going under shadowy part of the buildings near Han River, no one getting assaulted under the weak yellow lamp posts inside alleys. Maybe he can do a quick patrol around the neighbourhood and go back. Minho will appreciate it at least. 

But when Seunghoon finally lands on one of his favourite rooftops near Gongdeok-dong, right in the sight of Taehyun’s favourite barbecue place, he spots a ruffle about a block away in one of the smaller alleys. He is getting pretty good at spotting crimes, and this one seems like just another regular mugging. 

Seunghoon sighs, swings forward and drops next to a big trash can, enjoying the startled look on the assailants’ faces. 

“I think that purse looks horrible on you.” He says to the guy who is trying to grab a large branded purse from a lady in a too tight skirt and too high heels. “Orange is really not your colour.”

The guy hisses and drops the purse, coming at Seunghoon in full pace. He easily swerves the attack and lets gravity do the punching for him instead. The guy falls face first onto the pavement in an unpleasant crack as Seunghoon calculated.

The lady grabs the purse lying abandoned on the ground and hightails the hell out of the alley, shouting a mumbled thanks. Seunghoon gets distracted by her for a second and doesn’t manage to avoid the fist connecting to his jaw in a painful thud. 

That is going to leave a bruise.

“Is it because I said your partner looks horrible with orange?” He rubs his jaw and taunts. 

The guy who punches him is standing a couple of feet away, hands fisted and ready to pounce. He must not be the brightest tool in the shed because why would a relatively reasonable person wear a nose ring when going out for mugging? All someone needs to do is pull out the ring by force, and it would be game over. A horribly bloody game over. 

Nose Ring grabs the knife he has stashed in his belt and dives at Seunghoon. Weapons now? Not cool. 

Seunghoon shoots a web strand to knock the knife out of Nose Ring’s hand because he doesn’t feel like getting stabbed today. Thank you very much.

“Come on, kid.” The guy looks at the knife that goes flying away and leers. 

“I am older than you. Kid.” Seunghoon leers back.

“Do you think I’d believe you?” Nose Ring answers. Well, maybe he is not as dumb as his freaking golden nose ring, which looks even uglier up close. 

“Kids these days have no respect.” Seunghoon shakes his head and swerves the high kick the guy aimed at him.

There is suddenly a shadow of darkness around him and Seunghoon barely avoids the fist coming towards his face before scrambling to see what is happening. 

There is a big truck blocking the only way into the narrow alley, cutting off the lights spilling over from the main street. Well, isn’t this a funny coincidence?

“Did you bring company?” He asks Nose Ring and shoots successive web strands to bind the guy to the trash can. “This isn’t just a mugging, is it?”

Nose Ring grins back at him with yellow teeth. 

Well shit.

There are at least four or five guys (that Seunghoon can see) coming down from the back of truck, all holding various kinds of weapons from crowbars to baseball bats. And as much as Seunghoon wants to find out if he is bulletproof, he is glad to see that no one actually has a gun. 

He can easily crawls up the wall and jumps out of the situation but he needs answers. Like who is so obsessed with finding him.

“Always happy to meet my fans.” He gives a mock bow and jumps out of the way when the first guy swerves at him with his rusty crowbar. 

He takes some hits because even with spider-sense, it is not easy to predict where five other people are at the same time. But he spares no web and cheats a little by sticking at a spot on the wall too high for them to reach. He is curious, not having a death wish. 

He manages to bind every single one – six of them including the original two – to various places in the alley after some times. He face is stinging but nothing that will not heal overnight. He might have to avoid Minho at all cost though. 

“So,” He asks, picking up the baseball bat and tossing it into the pile of weapons left over by their unfortunate owners. “Any of you want to tell me what this is about? I mean, I am flattered you take your precious time to arrange this little meeting but it’s feeling too one-sided, don’t you think?”

None of the guys speak. 

On second thought, that’s probably because Seunghoon webs their mouths shut as well. 

“Sorry,” He says and pulls of the webbing from Nose Ring’s mouth. “Forgot about these.”

“Fuck you,” the guy spits. “We are going to get you.”

“Big words for a guy stuck to a trash can. Well, if you don’t want to tell me, you can tell the police.”

Seunghoon rummages around one of the guys’ jacket until he finds a mobile and dials 119.

“Hopefully, they will be here soon.” Seunghoon says after hanging up on the operator on the emergency line. “I’d love to stick around but I don’t think the police will be very happy about me.”

He gives a mock salute to his very angry companions and crawls up the wall to the roof the nearest building. Up there, he slings himself down slowly onto the fire escape stairs just on top the trash can where Nose Ring is stuck, and hides himself behind a large blanket on the clothing line. 

He is not very good at interrogation but he is good at sneaking around. 

A police car arrives about ten minutes later, just in time before one of the guys he traps to the lamp post is almost wriggling his way out. 

Two polices get out of the car, hands fixed on their Tasers. The larger one with a disturbing moustache on his face observes the scene and turns to his partner.

“We didn’t get anything about the spider guy on the radio, did we?” He grunts. “Where are we with his investigations anyway?”

The lady police lightly touches the stray web strands stuck to the wall. “I don’t know. I am not in the special force.”

“We need to detain the guy before it gets worse.” The guy grouches. Well, sorry Seunghoon makes their lives much easier. 

“But it is not like he is breaking any law.” Thank you, lady cop. “Why are we hell bent on finding him?”

“He is dangerous.” The guy says, gesturing to his surroundings. “Don’t you see what he did to these fully grown men?”

“Speaking of,” she sighs. “Why were we not told that there are six suspects here? We can’t fit them all in the car.”

“Well, radio and ask for back up.” The grouchy McGrouchy says and she rolls her eyes openly. Seunghoon likes her. 

Once she turns her back on the moustached guy to get her radio, he grabs the bat Seunghoon threw away earlier to the side of the road, and before Seunghoon can let out a warning, the guy clubs his partner hard on the head. She goes down with a heavy thud on the ground immediately. The moustache then carries her into the backseat of the car. 

Seunghoon puts a hand over his mouth to not let out the shocked sound escaping his throat.

What the fuck. 

“Why do you bring her in the first place?” Nose Ring grumps. 

“Police force doesn’t work like your dirty fuckers.” The moustache replies, cutting Nose Ring free from where he is stuck with a small knife. “We can’t just ditch our partners.”

“You’d better have a good explanation for her then.”

“I will take care of it.” The moustache says impatiently. “Worry about yourself. Did you get anything usable?”

“No,” Nose Ring snarls. “The guy was too fast. He tries to tell me he is older than me, but he was probably bluffing.”

“Well then,” the moustache replies, cutting down another guy. “I hope you at least had the cameras set up because he’s not going to be happy.” 

Seunghoon tenses. He strains his eyes in the darkness until he can spot three tiny cameras mounted on the balconies of separate apartments, all pointing towards the alleys.

Bastards. 

“Do I look like I am stupid?” Nose Ring asks. “Of course, I set them up. I even got beaten up for a good ten minutes just so the footage wasn’t so short like the other day.”

“I told you we shouldn’t have left that taxi driver alone.” One of the guys being cut down by the police guy says. “We could have taken him that day.”

“No, we couldn't.” Nose Ring says and kicks angrily at the trash can that he was just stuck onto. “Plus, we want to find out who he is first. Boss has questions.”

So, that’s what they want? Footage of him? To do what? Analyze and compare to all of Seoul to track down who he is?

Seunghoon is not going to let them think they have outsmarted him. Hell no. 

He shoots a web strand to the two nearest cameras and yanks them forward: they come detached from the pod easily with a thud sound. He drops them vehemently onto the ground, a good two feet away from where the moustache cop is standing. 

A couple of guys let out shrieks to Seunghoon’s satisfaction. The cop takes out his Taser and fires towards the origin of the web strand but Seunghoon is up too high for it to reach. 

“Fuck,” the cop swears loudly. “Go, go. Fuck.”

Yeah, you’d better run, you bastards. 

The guys scramble off, struggling to get onto the truck and driving away. The cop drives away too, looking scared out of his wits. 

Cowards. 

Seunghoon pulls the third camera towards him and looks over it. It’s similar to the one the PDs at their company use to set up in their rooms during Winner TV, but it seems to be a higher model. All in all, it looks quite expensive to be owned by some common thugs. 

Seunghoon holds the camera tight and runs up the stairs. He can inspect it later. For now, he should probably get out of here.

There is an unsettling feeling in the bottom of his heart, like something bad is just around the corner. At least now, he knows why the police seems to be so hostile towards him. He wonders to how much extent the corruption goes though. There is no way moustache guy is the only one. 

The expensive cameras. The corrupted police. The way-too elaborate trap. 

Seunghoon has a troubling impression that whoever is looking for him is probably more dangerous than he is expecting.

Fuck.

* 

“With a face like his, you’d think he’ll less time, not more.” Seunghoon grumbles, shaking his legs. His face itches but he can’t touch it because he has his make-up done and the make-up noonas will scold him if he ruins it (again). 

“Hmm,” Taehyun replies in disinterest, rolling on the too small sofa, almost pushing Seunghoon off it with his hips. “More time for me to sleep.”

“Seungyoon is about to be done with his make-up.” Seunghoon pokes at him. “You’d better get up before your face is even more swollen.”

Taehyun groans. “Don’t want to. I didn’t get to sleep at all last night.” 

Well, neither did Seunghoon but he is fully loaded with red bull up to his neck so he is ready to take down a gang or run around Seoul, whatever that doesn’t require sitting still here, waiting for Jinwoo to finish his photo section. 

The photographer shouts at an assistant to change one of the lighting bulbs, asking Jinwoo to take two. 

Seunghoon sighs. It’s going to take longer then. 

“I heard you and Minho hyung last night.” Taehyun says, hands rubbing at his eyes. 

“You are gonna poke your eye out,” Seunghoon grabs at Taehyun’s hand and says. “We weren’t even doing anything. Why do you make it sound so scandalous?”

“You guys have been having these secret little chats lately.” Taehyun accuses, not without ground. “Are you working on something?”

“Not really,” Seunghoon scratches his hair and regrets it immediately when his incredibly gelled hair shifts a little. “We just talk.”

“What needs to be talked about so long? And so many times?” Taehyun asks. 

“Are you jealous we are not paying you enough attention?” Seunghoon laughs and Taehyun snorts. 

“It’s just weird. Are you two fucking?”

Jesus. Leave it to Taehyun to be sensitive and classy.

“Stop talking nonsense.” Seunghoon hisses. “Especially in public.”

Taehyun doesn’t show an ounce of remorse. “Whatever.” He stretches, not unlike a cat under the sun. “Minho hyung totally has a crush on you. Surprisingly.”

“What do you mean surprisingly?” Seunghoon gripes, intentionally skipping over the first part. “I am a catch.”

“So, you do admit that Minho hyung has a crush on you?” Taehyun traps him, because of course he does. 

“I am not admitting shit.” Seunghoon groans. 

Ridiculous. Minho does not have a crush on him. He is just too busy worrying over Seunghoon dying at the hand of some drug dealers and breaking the team up.

Luckily, before Taehyun can open his mouth, Seunghoon gets saved by Seungyoon who finally escapes from the make-up noonas.

“Jinwoo hyung’s not done yet?” Seungyoon whines pathetically and sits down on Taehyun’s legs, ignoring the maknae’s yells. “I am hungry.”

“We’ll eat after the shoot.” Seunghoon pats him on the knee. It is a bitch to eat in make-up and then sits for another hour in the make-up chair, tolerating the prodding and plucking in the name of beauty. “Hopefully soon.”

Soon turns out be three hours later and Seunghoon’s stomach is growling so loudly that manager hyung takes pity on them and offers them to order jja-jang-myun before the car arrives to drop them at YG building where yet another meeting is waiting for them.

“Did you bring a towel?” Seunghoon asks Minho, who walks past by him smelling so strongly of shampoo. Seunghoon has been drying his wet hair with tissue papers, which while works, leaves a trace of white paper rolls in his hair. All their stylists have left and leave them with nothing but the clothes they come in earlier. 

“You look like you have huge dandruffs on your hair.” Minho laughs and takes out a towel from his bag. “Turn around.” 

Seunghoon obediently turns, facing his back towards Minho. Minho roughly runs the towel through his hair, fingers moving in patterns over his scalp.

“That feels good.” Seunghoon says when Minho’s fingers settle into something resembling a massage on his head. 

“Song salon.” Minho drawls. “Backup plan if we don’t do well.”

“Good plan,” Seunghoon laughs and lets Minho do magic on his head.

Taehyun smirks at him from across the room where he is digging into the bottom of a Pringles can and Seunghoon rolls his eyes at him.

“Anyone got cash? I forgot I need to draw money.” Manager hyung comes into the studio and asks, followed by the delivery guy carrying their precious food.

“I’ll pay.” Seungyoon, as expected, jumps in and takes out his wallet. 

“Thank you, leader!” Seunghoon calls but the words freeze on his lips when the delivery guy steps out from behind manager hyung to hand Seungyoon the receipt. 

The beaten up face and the ugly-ass nose ring are too familiar. 

Seunghoon hitches his breath and fists his hands, ready to fight at a hat’s drop. He instinctively moves so that his body is shielding an oblivious Minho while trying to keep everyone in his eye sight. But Nose Ring barely gives him any attention, and Seunghoon has a feeling that the guy is not that good of an actor to be pretending. 

Nose Ring leaves after he gets his money, not once glancing at Seunghoon.

Seunghoon lets out a sigh shakily and takes the plate from Seungyoon with a mumbled thanks. He grips the cold styrofoam box in his hand hard and focuses his hearing on the outside of the now closed door, listening to the sound of a motorcycle reeving away from the studio. 

He doesn’t believe in coincidence, but maybe this is what it is. Just a coincidence.


	9. Volume IX: UNDERSTANDING

Coincidence or not, Seunghoon would be an idiot to not do anything about Nose Ring suddenly showing up at his workplace, because it is Minho’s workspace too, and while the guy might not have any clue about Seunghoon, it is too convenient for him to be showing up around Minho.

It has been a couple of days since the whole debacle with the cameras and the cops went down. The camera Seunghoon lifted from the alley is inside his locked drawer. Looking at it or checking the footage gives him no clue as to who is behind everything. 

No one has tried to corner him again either, even though he has been out and about for a couple more nights after it. Seunghoon would take it as a blessing, if it is not for the little tick in the back of his mind that feels too much like the silence before the storm crashes in. 

Right now though, he is not going out as spider-man. It is too risky to let Nose Ring spots the webhead around. Threatening and posturing is for suckers. Seunghoon is going to be sneaky as shit so that he can drop kick the shock out of whoever that is behind all this.

“Where are you going?” Minho asks from the doorway, hand over the doorknob.

“Learn to knock.” Seunghoon zips his hoodie up as far as the zip-line would go. “What if I am still changing?”

“Like I haven’t seen everything.” Minho snorts and comes in, closing the door behind him. “Plus, you always lock the door if you are changing into the suit.”

Seunghoon wants to remind him that he hasn’t seen everything, but he is feeling a little weird with Taehyun being an interfering dick lately. He doesn’t need to confuse himself or Minho more. 

“Speaking of,” Minho continues. “You are not, you know, going out?”

“I am,” Seunghoon gestures to himself. “That’s why I am changing.”

Minho rolls his eyes. “You know what I mean. Where are you going, dressed like a fashionable homeless man?”

“Thanks,” Seunghoon snorts and grabs his wallet. “I am just gonna go to the shop for a while.”

“What for?” Minho squints his eyes, and asks. “We’ve already had dinner.”

Seunghoon feels a little insulted that Minho thinks he is sneaking out to do something stupid, but it a little unjustified since he is sneaking out to do something stupid.

“Night snacks.” Seunghoon says, and Minho looks like he absolutely does not buy it. 

“Let me come with you then,” Minho says unexpectedly. Seunghoon is anticipating him to call Seunghoon on his terrible and obvious lie, but Minho just smirks and grabs one of Seunghoon’s jackets from the rack. “I can use some air.”

Seunghoon rolls his eyes, and Minho’s smirk gets bigger. 

“Fine,” Seunghoon sighs. “I am going to do some recon.”

“Stop watching so many spy dramas.” Minho mutters. “You mean you are going to go sneak on someone. Who is it?”

“I saw a thug I fought with a couple of weeks back. I am just going to go see if there’s anything I can use. And hang my jacket back. It’s an expensive one.”

“Use for what?” Minho asks, but obediently puts the jacket back. “What did this guy do?”

He hasn’t told Minho about the cameras and the trap yet, and he would prefer to never do so. 

“I always see him around. I am just going to check if I can figure out his hideouts and stuff. It might become useful.” 

“I’ll come with you.” 

Hell no. 

“No. If something happens, I can’t protect you.”

“You are not wearing your suit,” Minho points at him. “Which means you don’t think anything will happen.”

“The guy I am looking for is the guy who took the driver, alright?” Seunghoon gives the half-truth. “I can’t risk bringing you around him.”

“Are you crazy?” Minho cries. “Why would you go and look for those people?”

“That’s why I am not going out in the suit.” Seunghoon explains. “They won’t recognise me.”

He doubts Nose Ring is the kind of person to know let alone listen to some newbie idol boy group. 

“Fine.” Minho relents. “Take your phone with you.”

“Already got it, mom.” Seunghoon pats his hoodie pocket where he puts his phone in and says. “You know I don’t need your permission every time I go out, right?”

“I know, but it makes me feel better to pretend.” Minho sighs. 

“It makes me feel better too.” Seunghoon says, honesty coming out despite his preference not to. He can easily avoid Minho if he wants to, despite them living in the same house. He has been doing this even before Minho was aware of anything. But he’d rather argue and come to something that feels like an agreement with Minho than sneaking out and piling up more worry on him. “Don’t worry too much.”

“How can I not?” Minho says, frowning. “Just go. It’s getting late.”

Minho leaves the room, not quite angry but worse. A sad Minho is a Minho that Seunghoon doesn’t know how to deal with. 

The others do not have a reaction as strong as Minho when Seunghoon leaves the house under the pretence of late night snack run. He is not lying, not really. He checks the restaurant that manager hyung ordered from earlier, and he knows the place. There is a convenience store right in front of it. 

The restaurant is fairly empty and quiet since it is already past dinner time. There are a couple of people inside, late night eaters, and a bored looking lady at the counter. The notice on the restaurant’s glass door say that their delivery hours are only until 9:00 pm so Seunghoon probably is too late.

Still, since he has come so far, he buys a ramen cup from the store and sits down at the small plastic table in front of the store, facing the restaurant. His face is going to be swollen tomorrow if he eats ramen at this time but they only have meetings tomorrow anyway. Nothing that requires him to look good. 

His ramen is almost all gone when Seunghoon spots some movements from across the street. It is not Nose Ring but another guy in his delivery jacket, who parks his motorcycle in front of the restaurant and goes around the building to the back of the restaurant, disappearing from Seunghoon’s eyesight. 

Seunghoon throws away his ramen cup and goes into the restaurant, heading straight to the counter. 

“Can I use your restroom?” He asks the lady at the counter. He can hear voices coming from the back of the restaurant, one of them clearly Nose Ring’s. 

“You need to buy something.” The lady replies, and Seunghoon sighs, getting his wallet. 

“Just give me two dumpling sets. To go.”

She nods and points towards the restroom in the back. Seunghoon says his thanks and ducks into the small path between the wall and the kitchen, leading to a tiny toilet smelling like it hasn’t been washed in weeks. Gross. 

There is an exit door next to it, and Seunghoon briefly considers his surroundings before pushing it open. The voices are too muffled like they have passed through several walls, so the chances that Nose Ring is out in the open are pretty thin.

There are a couple of delivery motorcycles and cardboard boxes stacked outside the door. Seunghoon looks around until he spots another door that says “Basement” on it.

He is not stupid enough to push this one open. 

He stays a couple more minutes listening to the voices but whoever is downstairs, they are talking about normal things like asshole customers and crazy traffic. Maybe, this really is a delivery place, not a super secret gangster hideout like Seunghoon is hoping for. He hears Nose Ring’s voice like maybe three times, mostly asking someone to pass him the beer. 

At least, he now knows where to find Nose Ring if needs arise, even though Seunghoon sure hopes not. So, the night might not be a complete waste of time. 

When he reaches home, only Seungyoon and Taehyun are in the living room. Seungyoon because he lives in the living room almost full time now; his guitars and keyboards are already taking place next to the sofa and his clothes and cosmetics are all over the living room. And Taehyun because he rarely sleeps at night for some reasons, always tossing and turning or doing something loud and unruly in his room until the late hours of the night. 

Taehyun strolls into the kitchen when Seunghoon is putting the dumplings into a Tupperware. 

“Ah, hyung.” Taehyun whines, and picks up a dumpling. “Why do you buy this kind of thing so late? So unhealthy.”

“You can, you know, not eat.” Seunghoon reminds him but Taehyun is too busy trying to stuff the whole dumpling into his mouth, looking like a chipmunk. 

“Seungyoon hyung, you want dumplings?” Taehyun calls into the living room but it comes out more like “Seungyoonhyoonyouwootdoomploong” since he can barely even open his mouth. Seunghoon is pretty sure he sees some bits flying out of Taehyun’s mouth.

Seungyoon wanders into the kitchen, following Taehyun’s indecipherable noise.

“We shouldn’t be eating so late at night.” He says, even though he is already reaching for a dumpling for himself as well. 

“Again,” Seunghoon sighs. “You can just not eat. Nobody’s forcing you to.”

“How can we not eat when the food is in front of us?” Seungyoon replies, going through the packet that Seunghoon brings. “You didn’t bring any soy sauce?”

“It’s there in the packet. Clean up after yourself.” Seunghoon rolls his eyes. “Where is Minho?”

“On the roof,” Taehyun answers, taking a small plate to put the soy sauce in. “Probably smoking. You know he’s going to set fire on the plants up there one day.”

“That’s one way to clear the roof.” Seunghoon says. “I am going up as well. Seriously, clean up after you’ve eaten.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Taehyun waves him away. “Enjoy your date. And don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

“There is nothing you wouldn’t do.” Seunghoon snorts.

Taehyun winks at him. 

*

Minho is sitting with his back against the wall, eyes closed and low bass of music coming out from his earphones. He looks oddly peaceful despite the angry beats of rhythm surrounding him, but that is the Minho Seunghoon knows. He finds comfort in weirdest things. 

Seunghoon slides down the wall next to Minho, sitting down on the cold and grimy concrete floor. Minho stops the music and takes off his headphones, wrapping the long wire around the iPod.

“Thought you would be smoking.” Seunghoon says.

“Trying to quit. Not really a good habit to encourage when we are about to debut.”

Minho might be saying it without meaning anything else, but it rarely is with Minho, and Seunghoon knows it. 

“Well,” He sighs. “Not everyone can give up their unhealthy habits, I guess.”

Minho picks at the hole in his jeans, playing with the frayed threads around the edges. The motion somehow irritates Seunghoon even though he has seen Minho does it for a thousands times. Right now, it feels like Minho is biding his time, weighing and carefully choosing his next words. Something he never did with Seunghoon before.

“Say what you want to say.” Seunghoon says. “Being awkward is the worst thing to be with you. I’d rather you just say whatever shit you are thinking of.”

“You know what is your unhealthiest habit?” Minho asks, not looking at Seunghoon.

“Yes,” Seunghoon laughs humourlessly. “The one that gets me beaten up regularly.” 

“Your worst habit is your conviction.” Minho says. “That you have to do this. That you are responsible.”

“I don’t have a hero-complex.” Seunghoon says. 

“It’s not a hero-complex.” Minho stretches his legs. “It’s just… you take it so seriously like it’s a duty. Like you are somehow a failure if you don’t go out and get yourself bruised and beaten.”

“I help people.” Seunghoon breathes out. It is not true. He is not some sadistic freak looking towards fights and pain. They are just the unfortunate side-effects of what he does.

“I know, and I have made my peace with it. As much as I can anyway.” Minho says. “But you need to know the difference between helping people and being responsible for them. You are not worth any less because you can’t save some dude who gets in trouble with kkangpae.” 

“I know that.” Seunghoon turns his head down, and says.

“Do you? Because it seems like this whole spider-man shit is taking over your life. The life you have right here, with us.”

“I thought you are ok with this. Me doing this.” Seunghoon says, almost bitterly.

“You know I was never ok with it.” Minho replies. “But I know what it means to you, and honestly, I am really proud of you, but I need you to do it for the right reasons. I need you to stop feeling like all you are is your mask.”

Sometimes though, all Seunghoon has is his mask. Like, when he is hearing a private conversation three doors away or when he moves too insanely fast to catch the glass that Taehyun knocks off of the table or when he has to wear a bandage over the knife cut on his hand in pretence even though it has healed after two hours, the only thing that can make him feel a little less like a monster is the knowledge that even if he is a monster, at least he is a good one. 

“I need you to be Lee Seunghoon more than spider-man.” Minho says, grabbing Seunghoon’s dangled hand over his knee. When he pressed his palm on Seunghoon’s, a few web strands stuck on his fingers. Seunghoon doesn’t pull to break the strands.

“Do it.” Minho whispers, vague and inviting. 

Seunghoon concentrates, pulling more web strings from his fingers and wraps them around Minho and his palms, until a cocoon of silky web strands is enclosing their intertwined hands, like some kind of a deformed mommy limb. Seunghoon can feel Minho’s blood thumping across his palm in a regular tick, warm and comforting. 

“I am not just Lee Seunghoon anymore.” Seunghoon says. “I’ve tried but I just not am.”

“Whatever happened, it changes what you can do.” Minho says, free hand running over the web nest Seunghoon just created. “Not who you are.”

“You don’t know that.” 

“I do,” Minho insists. “I know that you think you have changed, but you are not. You are still Seunghoon, weird and strange and tends to think the whole world is on your shoulder. You can just do weird shit and turn out to be a superhero.”

He lifts their joined hand as if to demonstrate. 

“I am not a superhero.” Seunghoon whispers.

“Tell that to your superhero fan club.” Minho laughs. “It’s ok. Spider Babes is not that much of an embarrassing fan club name.”

Seunghoon groans.

“Hyung,” Minho says, face suddenly turning serious. “A part of you is spider-man. I get it. But I don’t want you to lose sense of who you are.”

“I won’t. But sometimes,” Seunghoon exhales. “it feels like being spider-man is the only worthwhile thing I’ll ever do.”

“What does that make the last two decades of your life then?” Minho barks. “You are literally months away from what you have been dreaming for your whole life. Isn’t that something worthwhile about your life?”

“I know.” Seunghoon nods. “I know in my head but just sometimes, it’s hard to listen to my head.”

“What about me then?” Minho asks, and Seunghoon tenses. What about you, Minho? “Actually, what about us? Or your friends? Family? Do you think they give a fuck about spider-man? There are people who need just Lee Seunghoon.”

“I get it, alright?” Seunghoon says, tired and wary. “Stop yelling.”

“Not until it gets through your thick head.” Minho retorts. “I love you, and I will love spider-man if I have to, but please stop letting him take over your life.”

Seunghoon knows Minho means loving him in the most platonic sense like the sleepy mumbles Seungyoon gives to every members when he is drunk enough. But still, there is a uptick in his heart and a kind of warmth spread all over his body.

“New York.” Seunghoon says, eyes focused on an airplane that is flying over their heads. 

“What?” Minho asks, perplexed.

“When we get to New York, I promise I’ll be just me. You will just have the 100% Lee Seunghoon to yourself.”

“You’d better.” Minho says. “Go easy on yourself, ok? And I don’t just mean physically.”

“Alright.” Seunghoon nods and pulls Minho in until their arms are pressing together. “I am sorry I brought you into all this.”

“You didn’t bring me into shit.” Minho snorts. “I figured out myself because you are the worst liar in the world.”

Says the boy who has never won a poker game in his life.

“Thank god I am smart enough.” Minho continues. “Who knows what would be going on in your weird head if I am not here.”

“Well,” Seunghoon says. “Thanks for scolding me, I guess.”

“You needed it.” Minho retorts. “Now,” he shakes their joined webbed hands. “Please tell me you can take this off because this is starting to feel gross.”


	10. Volume X: DISCOVERIES

One good side effect of Seunghoon starting to take his phone on his nights out (he had to sew an inline pocket in his boots) is that he can at least play Candy Crush when the nights are too quiet. Jinwoo has passed over Seunghoon’s latest level despite the fact that everyone is too busy these days with album meetings and photo shoots.

Well, if he can still find time to be spider-man, Seunghoon supposes it is fair enough for Jinwoo to find time to jump up 8 levels. 

He is still going to check if Jinwoo is using a cheat code later though. 

The sound of a door slamming shut echoes through the night and Seunghoon looks down from the roof he is lying on. The worn down door to Nose Ring’s hideout basement is wobbling dangerously like it is about to be fall off anytime soon, but the guy who just slammed it seems like he could care less. 

After a few more nights of what Seunghoon refuses to call stalking, he has come to the conclusion that the basement he found earlier is more of a den for less than legal activities. Seunghoon has been in the Seoul entertainment industry since he was a teenager – he can easily recognise the heavy and smoky smell of marijuana that comes out from the basement every so often during his late night surveillance. Plus, the guys who come and go from this place hardly seem like upstanding citizens.

Still, Seunghoon is not going to walk himself into danger over some grown men smoking pot and playing cards. He almost decided to ditch his little spying activities but a few nights back, he heard Nose Ring talking on the phone about how everyone needs to be ready and extra cautious for the night of 18th.

Which is tonight. 

He has been on the roof with the clearest sightline to the basement door since 7, having told everyone including manager hyung that he has a friend’s birthday party and will be home late. 

The guy who just came out of the basement is now talking loudly on the phone, but Seunghoon cannot decipher anything since he is talking in Chinese and Mandarin is a bitch to learn. The only words he catches are “I know” and “Onsan Port”.

A couple more guys come out from the door, including his dear Nose Ring, all dressed in black, totally not looking like a bunch of criminals about to do crimes. 

Seunghoon slips his phone back into his boots and stretches. 

A very familiar truck stops at the main street, the driver leaning out of the window to yell at the people gathered at the back of the restaurant. It is the truck Seunghoon saw on the night with the cameras, or at least a similar truck from the same company. It has the same blue logo on the side of it, a logo that is from some construction company that Seunghoon has seen around Seoul. 

The truck reeves its way through the busy night roads of Seoul after everyone climbed into its back. Seunghoon runs and swings alongside it, but it is heading towards the suburb areas where there are fewer tall buildings for him to jump to. So, Seunghoon makes a very stupid decision and leaps on top of the truck, landing himself softly on the roof. 

The truck turns into Onsan Port after about fifteen minutes, driving through the main gate with no stop or check from the security guard, who just took a look at something the driver handed him and let the vehicle in. The truck finally stops at an empty dock and Seunghoon jumps onto a nearby shipment container before the people inside the truck start to come out. 

“I think we are too early.” The driver says, lighting up a cigarette and tossing his lighter onto the driver seat. 

“No,” the Chinese guy Seunghoon spotted earlier replies in heavily accented Korean. “He says it will reach by 12. It’s already 5 past 12.”

“Maybe he is wrong,” Nose Ring replies. “Or worse, he cheated you out. I still don’t know why we should trust some unknown white guy’s words.” 

“Madam Gao trusts him.” The Chinese guy replies. “And since your bosses always have a good relationship with her, I suggest you show some respect to her associate.” 

Nose Ring looks like he wants to argue, but he just nods sourly and folds his arms. “We wait for a couple of more minutes then.” 

“How much is supposed to be there?” One of the guy Seunghoon hasn’t noticed before asks. Seunghoon temporarily names him Baldie because well, it is self-explanatory. 

“Two hundreds.” The Chinese guy answers back. “Quarter kilo each.”

“Doesn’t seem like a lot.” Nose Ring pipes in. 

“It is a lot when you consider that he is giving these for free as a show of faith.” The Chinese guy snarls. “And you can trust that they are of the highest quality. None of the those dry shit you people produce.” 

“We will see.” Baldie replies. “If he wants to work so badly with us, the product better be fucking amazing.”

The Chinese guy looks at him in barely concealed disdain, but before he can say anything, a ship horns in the distance and everyone stands up a little straighter, all looking towards the dock where a large cargo ship is drawing nearer. 

Seunghoon makes use of everyone’s distraction and crawl his way closer to the truck.

When the ship finally reaches the dork, the Chinese guy and one of the lackeys head toward it, talking to a Caucasian guy that disembarks from the ship.

The rest of the people near the truck are restless, including Nose Ring, fidgeting and trying their best not to show that they are eavesdropping onto the conversation between the three guys near the ship. 

“Get the trolley.” The Chinese guy turns and shouts. Nose Ring dives into the back of the truck and comes back out with a large trolley and pushes it over to the ship. Everyone else, including the driver follows him. 

Seunghoon climbs down from the container he is on, and sticks himself in the shadow between two containers right next to the truck front seat. He doesn’t know what is going on and what he is supposed to do but this is more than any meagre lead he has gotten over the past month. 

He holds his breath when two guys walk past him, pushing the trolley which has four or five large carton boxes stuck on top of them. He can see other people unloading more similar boxes from the ship.

“What the fuck are you doing?” The Chinese guy asks when Baldie opens up a carton box with his knife, and picks up a plastic bag full of white powder.

Drugs, then. How original.

“I want to see if this shit is as good as you say.” Baldie replies, lifting his knife to tear open the package.

“This is the most expensive heroin you’ll ever see in your life.” The Chinese guy takes a hold of Baldie’s arm before he can stab at the package. “So, save it and make sure every single packet reaches your boss, without damage.”

Baldie looks like he would rather stab the Chinese guy instead. “If Madam Gao and her associate,” he spits, “want to work with us, you’d better show us some fucking respect as well.”

“Oh, we do.” The Chinese guy smirks. “To your bosses, the ones who actually make the calls, not some low level thugs.” 

Baldie snarls and opens his mouth but another guy pulls him back and pushes him off the dock he was standing on. 

“Stop making trouble. Make yourself useful and go count the packages.” 

Baldie glares at them but reluctantly turns, grabbing a box next to him and carrying it back to the truck. There are about ten more boxes to be opened and counted. The rest are all checked and loaded into the back of the truck. 

Seunghoon follows them to see if he can get any clue about who is looking for him, but of course, he would have the luck to run into an actual drug smuggling. And, it is not that much of a stretch to deduce that whoever turns out to be Nose Ring’s boss is probably the one behind the manhunt for spider-man. 

And Seunghoon would really love to lit a fire under their asses. 

He checks to make sure that everyone is focused on whatever they are doing before he shoots out web strands into the open front seat, sticking them onto the lighter that the driver abandons. After a quick thought, he pulls out the jacket the driver takes off as well.

He is not sure how combustible heroin is. He is hoping for hella.

He waits until all the boxes are loaded into the back of the truck, and people have more or less cleared out. Unfortunately, one guy goes into the back of the truck with the boxes and as much as Seunghoon doesn’t like any of them, he is not really into murder by fire. 

But he is running out of time as well. 

The Chinese guy is handing some kind of paperwork to the Caucasian guy from the ship, and Nose Ring is already heading back to the truck along with everyone else. 

Seunghoon makes a split second decision, apologizes to Minho internally that he is breaking his promise and dives into the back of the truck. The guy in the back lets out a startled yell but Seunghoon cuts him off by kicking him out and closing the back door. He hastily locks the truck door and takes out the lighter he stashes into his boot earlier.

The jacket he stole is cotton so it catches fire pretty easily, but Seunghoon has to hold it steadily until the whole thing is burning. He can hear the yells and commotions outside and the orders for the driver to get the key to the truck door.

Seunghoon ignores the banging on the various sides of the truck and kicks open the boxes around him until their contents spill out onto the truck floor. 

The fire catches easily when he drops the burning cloth onto the plastic packets. The smoke that comes out from it is so strong that Seunghoon starts coughing and his eyes start to water but he needs to stay and make sure that a good chunk of the bags are burning before he can go. 

The choice is taken out of his hand, however, when the truck door suddenly opens and he is faced with a very furious group of men.

“Hey guys.” Seunghoon waves his hand. “Hot night, huh?”

It is not the best joke he has made, he admits. Must be the smoke getting into his head. 

When the guy who opened the door snarls at him and tries to climb in, Seunghoon grabs the nearest burning bag and throws it at the guy's torso. The burn that Seunghoon is fully prepare for on his hand does not come – he can feel the heat but it is bearable even though the bag surely is burning hot from the way the guy who comes in contact with it screams and jumps back.

Huh. He does not know that polycarbonate fabric is also fire-resistant.

The fire is now catching far more quickly and Seunghoon does not stay to find out if his whole suit is fire-resistant. He jumps out of the truck, kicking another guy in the nose when he tries to grab at Seunghoon. 

He would love to stay and give a good beating to these guys but he has an early 24-hour flight tomorrow and he would rather not be half dead on it. He gets a good few hits in before he shoots his web towards a nearby container and swings his body up.

The mob seems to be torn between running towards him and savaging what is left of the burnt drugs, which hopefully is not a lot. 

“Enjoy your bonfire.” He shouts and jumps onto a container further away from the truck. He can see an office building in the near distance and if he remembers correctly, the gate should be just behind it. He runs towards it, and almost trips when a vibration runs up his left leg. Fuck, this is why he doesn’t want to bring his phone in the first place.

He leaps his way into the dark lobby of the building and takes out his phone, briefly glancing at it to see Minho’s name flashing across the screen.

Not fucking now.

Seunghoon puts his phone back in and looks around, trying to remember which way is the gate. Everything around him is lowly lit and looks the same with containers stuck up on containers and he is not exactly sure which way the truck comes in from. 

He is going to go towards the left side when alarm bells start going off in his head and jumps back, barely in time to avoid the swish of a knife cutting through the air where his arm has been. 

Shit.

“Hey bro.” Seunghoon taunts. “Fancy seeing you here, and not, you know, in jail. How’s your cop buddy?”

Nose Ring snarls like a mad bulldog and charges towards him. This guy just doesn’t learn, does he?

“You know what?” Seunghoon says, knocking the knife out of Nose Ring’s hand. “Since you are here anyway, why don’t you try answering my questions this time?”

He pushes Nose Ring into the wall and presses him by his arms. “Who is after me?”

“Fuck you.” Nose Ring spits, and Seunghoon makes a note to wash his mask later.

“You know, the curses are really getting redundant. How about you tell me what I ask and I let you go? Easy for both of us.”

“Or what?” Nose Ring laughs. “You’re gonna torture me? We both know you won’t do it.”

Well, true, but Nose Ring doesn’t need to know it. 

“You don’t know anything about me, buddy.” Seunghoon says and presses on him a little harder.

“We’ve been watching you.” Nose Ring laughs. “One thing we all know is you never go for moves that can seriously incapacitate a person, and you don’t have much experience fighting. You want me to believe you are some sort of scary interrogator?”

“I have to start somewhere.” Seunghoon says. “You can be my first test case.”

Something akin to fear flashes across Nose Ring’s face and Seunghoon pumps a victory fist up in his mind. 

“Who are you working for? And who the fuck is Madam Gao? And where do all those drugs come from?”

“You literally don’t know anything, do you?” Nose Ring laughs.

“I know your bosses are scared of me.” Seunghoon retorts. “And I know you got people in the police force, and I know Union Allied Construction Company is probably involved in this somehow. You want me to go on?”

Nose Ring growls but his eyes are focusing on something behind Seunghoon’s head and Seunghoon turns his back to see a group of shadowy figures approaching. 

“Figures.” He sighs. “We just can’t have a civil conversation, can we?”

He socks Nose Ring in the jaw hard and jumps over his falling body to reach the dark hallway, leading into a large door with an EXIT sign. His phone is ringing again and he curses softly before shouldering the door open.

He can hear footsteps running behind him but the gate is only a few meters away from where he is and he can see a couple of large trucks going out of the gate. Seunghoon puts more forces into his steps and catches up with one of the smaller trucks, jumping onto its side seconds after it passes through the gate. 

He climbs his way up onto the roof and lies down on it, catching his breath. His phone is still vibrating and Seunghoon groans in annoyance before taking it out, ducking when a tree branch almost pokes his eyes out.

“What?” He yells into the phone.

“What the fuck, hyung?” Minho yells back. “What’s the point of asking you to take your phone if you don’t pick up.”

“I was too busy not trying to die.” Seunghoon snaps back, only to regret it a split second later. “Sorry. Just. Busy, you know.”

Minho doesn’t speak for a couple of beats. 

“Just come back. Fast. Our flight schedule got changed.”

“What?” Seunghoon shouts, sitting up straight. They are not supposed to be flying until 7 in the morning. 

“Yeah. We are off at 5, so we need to get to the airport in like two hours. Where are you?”

“Erm,” Seunghoon trails off. “Somewhere in Seoul?” He looks around to see heavy traffics but the surroundings are mostly industrial buildings and tress, definitely not urban, but he can see tall buildings ahead so he should be back at somewhere familiar soon.

“Jesus Christ,” Minho groans. “Just, come to the park. As soon as you can.”

“Ok,” Seunghoon answers. “Give me like 15 minutes. I’ll call you if I’ll take longer.”

“Fine,” Minho snaps and hangs up. Seunghoon resists the urge to scream and lies back down on the roof.

It takes him close to 30 minutes to reach back to Mapo-gu. Seungyoon called him about three times after Minho hanged up, but Seunghoon didn't dare to pick up. Hopefully, Minho probably took care of it because his phone stopped ringing after a while. 

When he jumps over the fence that is surrounding the small park right around the corner of their street, he can see Minho pacing back and forth near the washroom area, tossing his phone up and down under the pathetically lit street lamp.

“Fuck.” Minho yells when Seunghoon pulls him into the dark shadows of the surrounding trees. “Don’t fucking do that, hyung. This park is creepy enough.”

“Sorry,” Seunghoon says sincerely. He has made sure that no one is following him but he is not dumb enough to be seen with Minho in what is partially a public area. 

“I thought you’d never reach.” Minho grumbles, apparently getting over the shock. “What happened?”

“Long story,” Seunghoon sighs. “What happened to our flight?”

“The original flight was cancelled and they only have earlier flights in place.” Minho says and hands him a black plastic bag. “Your clothes. Seungyoon and Jinwoo hyung are packing up your shit.”

“No,” Seunghoon cries. He can’t imagine the fashion terrorism those two are committing on his New York wardrobe now. 

“Should have packed earlier.” Minho says without any sympathy.

“I already know what I want to take.” Seunghoon mutters. “I just haven’t, you know, pack it.”

“If you hurry up, you can stop them from packing you just sweatpants and tank tops.” Minho drawls, picking up the mask that Seunghoon took off and threw onto the ground. 

“I am trying.” Seunghoon grumbles and tries to wriggle his way out of the skintight suit. He really needs to put a zipper on the suit. 

“Is this ash?” Minho asks, thumb swiping over the ash residue on the spider mask. “Where were you?”

“Long story,” Seunghoon repeats. “I am not hurt anywhere though. See?” He gestures to his body and steps out of the suit, forgetting temporarily that he is standing in his boxers.

He blushes a little when Minho gives him a once over with raised eyebrows. At least, the surroundings are dark so Minho cannot see him turning red. When Minho doesn’t reply anything, Seunghoon just grabs the shirt from the bag and pulls it over his head. 

“Your long story better doesn’t involve you being stupid.” Minho grumbles and picks up the suit to fold it.

The view of it makes something in Seunghoon rumbles. It is not anything new – Minho usually does their laundry because he and Jinwoo are the only one patient enough to properly fold clothes. Seunghoon believes in hanging, not folding so he’d rather invest in buying dozens and dozens of hangers.

Laundry thoughts aside, the sight of Minho patting down the suit to rid of the dirt and folding it neatly until it fits into his bag, makes Seunghoon feels oddly warmed. Like stepping out into the sun after staying too long in an air-conditioned room. He doesn’t want to admit it to himself because it sounds selfish, but he is glad. That Minho knows the most private parts of him. That he can share some of his secrets with Minho.

Of course, if he can have his way, Seunghoon would rather Minho not be in this with him. It is too much to ask of anyone. But he is glad Minho does.

“Does the silence mean I am right?” Minho asks, and it shakes Seunghoon out of his stupor.

“Huh?” He asks, putting on the jacket.

Minho rolls his eyes. “Were you being stupid? Because it definitely seems like you were in a fire.” He opens up his palm and shows his blackened skin from the ash and sooth on the suit.

“I’ll tell you later.” Seunghoon mumbles and runs his hand through his hair until it hopefully does not look flattened anymore. “Shouldn’t we be heading back?”

Minho gives a look that says the conversation is definitely continuing in the future. Guess Seunghoon should probably sit next to someone other than Minho on the flight. 

“Fine. Let’s go.” Minho says and pulls his hoodie up, effectively shadowing half of his face. “You look cheery, though.”

“I do?” Seunghoon asks, slinging the bag across his shoulder and falling in line with Minho’s steps. 

He is, he supposes. He just destroyed a sizable amount of drugs (you are welcome, Seoul’s police), he made sort of a statement that he is not just someone you can easily trifle with to the people who are trying to hunt him down, and he is going to New York in two hours. To shoot photos and album jackets for his debut album. 

“I love life.” Seunghoon declares and Minho raises an eyebrow at him.

Seunghoon grins back.

Minho shakes his head but he is smiling as well, and links his arm with Seunghoon’s. 

“I can’t wait to see New York.” Minho says, hand gripping at Seunghoon’s biceps. Seunghoon nods his agreement and folds his palm over Minho’s hand, feeling the cool night air brushing across his face, but his body warm against Minho's.


	11. Volume XI: NEW YORK

New York is humid and loud and inexplicably vibrant. At least from the 10 km squared area that Seunghoon has been in since 7 in the morning. He takes it as a small blessing that he is on a location shoot unlike Taehyun and Jinwoo who are stuck doing indoor shoots. Taehyun has been sending them sad and angry emoticons repeatedly via their group chat.

The shoot has been going on for the whole day, and now the crew is setting up the amusement park that the last scene is supposed to be shooting at. Seunghoon is exhausted and he feels gross from sweating the whole day despite all the cologne the makeup noonas keep dabbing onto his skin.

Seunghoon flips through the schedule sheet manager hyung handed him earlier, while trying to bite off a hot dog without ruining his lip gloss. They are here for two weeks but they also have scheduled so many shoots that the days are starting to get blurred into one. Tomorrow is also an early morning shoot followed by yet another shoot in the Central Park. At this rate, Seunghoon’s face is going to be stuck in permanent blue steel.

At least, they will have a day off soon even though manager hyung already told him that there will be cameras following them around most of the day. Seunghoon is used to cameras around him after Winner TV but he is not particular looking forward to it. 

“Alright. Let’s roll.” The director yells and Seunghoon swallows down the bread in his mouth, hopping over to the merry-go-round that the crew has spent the past 20 minutes setting up. 

When they wrap up, it is already around 8 and he has to head straight to another night shoot right after a quick dinner. Manager hyung hands him a red bull with an apologetic smile: Seunghoon thanks him in mumbles and drowns it in one go. He can deal with tiredness – exhaustion is normal after the past few years of nights spent figuring out choreography and days spent rehearsing. Seunghoon prefers this kind of demanding tiredness to be honest because at least, it is heading towards a definite goal. 

Still, he falls asleep in the van on the way to the night shoot and his neck is hurting when Seungyoon shakes him awake. The rest of the members has a couple of hours to rest in between shoots so they look fresh while Seunghoon probably is spotting some impressive dark circles. 

“Coffee?” Taehyun strolls into the changing room, blowing the steam off of his own very large coffee while Seunghoon is changing into his crispy new clothes. 

“No,” Seunghoon shakes his head and adjusts his snapback. “I have too much caffeine already.”

“Might as well have enough to stay awake for the next two days.” Taehyun replies bitterly. “Do you know we are starting at 5 tomorrow morning?”

It’s already past 10 at night. 

Seunghoon sighs. “Fine. Get me the biggest cup you can find.”

*

When the day off finally comes, everyone is ready to crash in bed for next twenty days but they need to shoot some behind the scene footages. Seungyoon and Jinwoo talk over with the staff (aka cajole) until the staff agrees to only roll the cameras for only the day and they can have the night for themselves. 

Seunghoon does not mind cameras as much as Minho or Taehyun does: Minho because he needs to remember that he cannot swear as much as he wants to and Taehyun because the kid always feels like he needs to show his best behaviour on film. But still, they have as much fun as they can because they are probably gonna be locked away in more shootings and meetings when they get back to Korea. 

“Let’s ride that.” Minho points to a roller coaster that goes up to a height that no human should ever go to, and shakes Seunghoon’s hand. “Ride it with me, hyung.”

“No,” Seunghoon groans and tries to find his exit point. “You know I don’t like roller coasters.”

Minho blinks at him. 

“Are you not swinging among 20-storeyed buildings every night?” He whispered.

Touché. 

“It’s different,” Seunghoon argues nevertheless. “I can control where I am going but I have no control with this. And I don’t free fall or loop in the air!”

“You are so weird.” Minho mumbles and leaves to recruit Seungyoon instead.

Seunghoon ends up riding a few moderately thrilling ones anyway because they need good footage and nothing seems more fun than Seunghoon shaking in his boots while the ride does a 360 degree turn in the air, apparently.

*

The vodka level is reducing at an alarmingly fast rate. Seungyoon has set the curfew at 3 AM because their first interview tomorrow is scheduled at 9:30 AM. So, the other three are doing their most to quickly eviscerate every drop of alcohol in the bottle Taehyun and Jinwoo sneaked out earlier to buy. 

“Slow down.” Seungyoon grabs the red cup from Taehyun’s hand and says. “Are you three going to drink the whole bottle by yourselves?”

“Only because you two are not. Boring hyungs.” Taehyun mumbles, words on the verge of slurring. Taehyun can hold his liquor most of the time but even he has limits. 

“Eat this.” Seunghoon throws him a banana. They don’t have much in the way of food because Minho is on a junk food ban. Again. Taehyun peels the fruit and obediently starts munching on it. He must really be feeling the alcohol if he is being a model dongsaeng. 

“Let’s play something.” Jinwoo suggests. “It’s too boring just drinking by ourselves. Minho isn’t even drinking much.”

“Vodka gives me swollen face.” Minho complains. 

“That’s why Taehyun is getting drunk.” Seungyoon says, pointing to Taehyun, who is leaning his head on Seungyoon’s shoulder and still somehow managing to eat his banana. “He’s drinking for both of you.”

Taehyun protests that he can still drink a lot more but fails to prove his point when he almost ends up puking his heart out on the carpet before Jinwoo and Minho drag him into the toilet. 

“I don’t understand what is fun about drinking until you vomit everything back out.” Seungyoon says and Seunghoon clinks his Pepsi can against Seungyoon’s over the sound of maknae heaving in the washroom.

Taehyun does seem a lot more stable after throwing up what is probably half of his stomach’s contents, but Seungyoon still put an alcohol sanction on him for the rest of the night. Taehyun complains but only half-heartedly and is probably doing it just for the sake of doing it.

“Let’s play truth or dare then.” Taehyun says, grabbing another banana from the bedside table. 

Seunghoon is a little wary playing truth or dare with this bunch because that is how he ended up calling Park Bom noona last time and asking her if she believes in aliens. (She hanged up on him and asked him if he was high the next time she saw him).

“Nothing humiliating, I promise.” Taehyun says, probably seeing the look on Seunghoon’s face. 

“Nothing involving anyone other than us five either.” Seunghoon adds. “And no leaving this room to do stuff like run around New York naked or something.”

“Why would I ask that kind of thing?” Taehyun asks innocently. Yeah. Right. He’s probably secretly pissed that Seunghoon has vetoed one of his many evil schemes. 

Seungyoon starts by spinning the half empty vodka bottle in between them (he probably did it so that no one can take more alcohol during the game), and the bottle end points to Jinwoo when the mouth falls towards Seunghoon.

Seriously?

Seunghoon chooses dare because Jinwoo is probably the least evil out of the rest, but then Jinwoo dares him to dance with a handful of ice cubes down his pants and Seunghoon immediately takes back his nice opinion.

His balls are freezing by the time the bottle lands on Seungyoon and Minho.

“Have you ever jerked yourself off around one of us?” Minho asks with a smirk to Seungyoon’s “truth”.

“Can we ask or dare something that doesn’t involve our dicks?” Seunghoon groans while Seungyoon turns red in the face. 

“Oh my god, he has.” Minho points at Seungyoon’s redden face and falls over laughing. “Who is it?”

“That wasn’t the question. You got the answer to your question.” Seungyoon blurts out and grabs the bottle to spin it. 

The game goes on, luckily without any more dick-related questions or dares, for another fifteen minutes. So far, Minho has eaten a banana dipped in ketchup and has toothpaste smeared over his face, Taehyun has taken off his sock with his teeth and Jinwoo has licked Seungyoon’s armpit.

“You are all a bunch of cowards.” Seunghoon declares as Jinwoo grabs the bottle. “Why does no one pick truth?”

“You picked dare as well.” Seungyoon protests. “I was the only one who picked truth. What are you even saying?”

“I will pick truth next time,” Seunghoon says and apparently jinxes himself because the spinning bottle lands on him and Seungyoon. 

“Oh ho,” Seungyoon claps and laughs, not unlike a overly joyful seal. “You have to pick truth now, hyung.”

“Go ahead,” Seunghoon says nonchalantly and flips his hair. “I am an open book.”

Seungyoon folds his arms and thinks for a couple of seconds before blurting out. “Have you ever kept a secret from us?”

Seunghoon’s heart drops into his stomach.

“What kind of question is this?” Taehyun complains besides Seunghoon. “Isn’t it too serious? The game’s supposed to be fun.” 

“There was no rule for serious questions.” Seungyoon argues. “I want to know if he has a secret girlfriend or something. He’s been sneaking out an awful lot lately.” 

Seunghoon tightens his grips on the can in his hand. Across him, Minho looks unnerved, probably even more than how Seunghoon looks right now.

He should have anticipated this. Seungyoon is sharper than any of them, and Seunghoon has been giving him a lot of chances to start getting suspicious. At least, bringing it up during a casual game instead of a serious talk means Seungyoon is not worrying about it too much. Yet. 

“Yes, I have.” Seunghoon says finally. Minho widens his eyes at Seunghoon. “I secretly think you are all fucking nerds.”

“Shut up.” Jinwoo laughs and throws a tissue roll at him. 

“Hyung, spin it.” Minho pushes the bottle towards Seunghoon, and says in a rush. Seunghoon grabs the bottle and sees Seungyoon looking at him thoughtfully. This conversation probably is not over.

Fuck.

Maybe it’ll be better to actually get a secret girlfriend. That’d be a good cover.

“Minho hyung, choose.” Taehyun says with unhidden glee and Seunghoon looks over to see the bottle pointing towards Minho and Taehyun. 

“Dare.” Minho says without hesitation. 

“Why are you always choosing dare?” Taehyun complains. He probably already has a catch question for Minho, and looks a little annoyed for not having the chance to use it. 

“I already have toothpaste all over my face.” Minho says and points towards his face with white lines spread across. “What’s the worst that can happen?”

Minho should have known better than to challenge Taehyun like this.

“Among the four of us,” Taehyun declares. “Go to the person you think is the most attractive and make out with him for a minute.”

“Yah. What kind of dare is that?” Minho protests wildly. 

“Isn’t that both truth and dare?” Seunghoon asks, not sure why his heart jumps when Minho’s eyes fall on him. “You are asking him who he thinks is most attractive as well.”

“Right.” Minho points at Seunghoon and nods vigorously. “That’s against the rules.”

“Fine.” Taehyun rolls his eyes. “I’ll change it. I dare you to make out with Seunghoon hyung.”

“Yah!” Both Minho and Seunghoon yells. 

“What is this?” Seunghoon complains. “Why am I getting dragged in for Minho’s dare?”

“I got my armpit licked because you dared Jinwoo hyung to lick it.” Seungyoon pipes in helpfully.

Apparently, karma doesn’t even wait until the next day to come back and kick Seunghoon in the ass.

“Hurry up. It’s almost 3 am.” Taehyun cuts in. “Let’s go to bed after this.”

Seunghoon glares at Taehyun who just smirks at him and leans forward to pull a hesitant Minho over. 

“I just had like two scoops of garlic ketchup.” Minho mumbles and kneels in front of Seunghoon. “I am sorry, hyung.”

Seunghoon sighs and closes his eyes. “Just get it over with.”

Minho leans in and Seunghoon can smell the toothpaste from his face, minty and strong and strangely suffocating. When Minho’s lips rest on Seunghoon’s puckered lips, he freezes for a second before relaxing a little bit. It’s not that different from when Minho is being affectionate and kiss him on the face. Just a different face area, and just a little more nerve-wrecking. 

“I said making out, not kissing your mother.” Taehyun says because he really wants a punch in the face tonight. “Open your mouths.”

Seunghoon opens his eyes to see Minho looking at him, almost like asking for permission, which is weird because Minho rarely asks for anyone’s permission about anything. Seunghoon gives an exaggerated sigh and lifts his middle finger towards Taehyun’s direction but his lifted arm bumps into Minho when he grabs Seunghoon by the arms.

It’s not the grabbing that catches Seunghoon off guard though.

It is Minho’s tongue that comes in between his lips. 

He can vaguely hear Jinwoo going “ooh” in the background or maybe it is Seungyoon. For someone with an enhanced hearing, Seunghoon admittedly cannot decipher any sound behind him. Everything is jumbled into a wall of background noise while Minho’s lips move over his in a way that is oddly familiar. Minho doesn’t taste like ketchup like he was worrying. He doesn’t taste like anything in particular, just warmth and softness. 

Seunghoon is considering if it is rude to not kiss back - maybe it is rude to kiss back – when Minho pulls away from him. 

“Isn’t that already a minute?” He turns and asks Taehyun. Seunghoon can feel Minho’s exhales of breath at this distance and he feels a slight itch on his neck where Minho’s hand has grabbed him, fingers slightly stroking over Seunghoon's skin. 

“I wasn’t keeping time.” Taehyun replies, unabashedly watching them with interest. 

“Fucker,” Minho swears with feeling and lets go of Seunghoon. Seunghoon feels unexpectedly cold despite the fact that it is summer and their air-con isn’t even on. “Hope that satisfies you, you little pervert.”

“I should be saying that to you and Seunghoon hyung.” Taehyun laughs and picks himself off the floor. “How was it, Seunghoon hyung? Does that satisfy you?”

“The truth and dare is over. Stop asking me questions.” Seunghoon snorts and gets up as well, picking up the scattered glasses and tissues on the floor. “Go to your room. You are annoying.”

“You should be thanking me.” Taehyun says with a wink and runs off before Seunghoon can peg him on the head with an empty plastic cup. 

“See you in the morning.” Minho says and follows after Taehyun. Seunghoon smiles unsurely at him and closes the door behind him, leaning his forehead on the door for a while.

“Well, that finishes on a good note.” Seungyoon says, already changing into his pajamas. “I can’t believe Seunghoon hyung and Minho got some actions without having to leave the room.”

“At least I don’t jerk off around members.” Seunghoon retorts in spite. Seungyoon groans and face plants onto the bed.


	12. VOLUME XII: FRAME

Seunghoon cannot fall asleep and he doesn’t feel like trying either, even though he knows he is going to regret it fully in the morning. He kicks off the blanket that is smothering him and absently touches his lips. 

He can’t believe Nam Taehyun.

Actually, he can believe that Taehyun would pull shit like this. He can’t believe Minho would go through with it.

It has been like this since day one, when he and Minho were brought up onto the notorious YG office for the first time and were told by Mr. Yang himself that they are joining a team with Kang Seungyoon and two other trainees. 

Seunghoon had heard of Minho before of course. It is hard not to when all Bigtone hyung could talk about during their rap trainings is how Seunghoon could learn a thing or ten from Minho and how Minho doesn’t need YG to build a career. 

And Seunghoon thought Minho surely would not go through with YG’s insane plan to put him in an idol boy group, but Minho did and he did it well. Minho surprised him back then and he still is surprising Seunghoon even after two years of knowing and living with him. 

Seunghoon does not do crushes well. He becomes tense and strange and essentially becomes someone unpleasant to be around. And it gets even worse when the other party does not respond well to his crush. All the girls who rejected him can attest to that. He makes a better friend than a love interest.

But of course, this is all hypothetical because Seunghoon is definitely not crushing on Minho, because that will end them even before they can begin and Seunghoon is definitely not that much of an idiot. Plus, it is totally normal to be nervous and feel like your heart is going to burst out of your chest when someone is kissing you, regardless of who that someone is. Isn’t it?

He can’t believe Minho kissed him.

Like an actual proper kiss. He can still recall the feelings of Minho’s lips over him and the warmth of his palm on Seunghoon’s neck.

Seunghoon buries his face in the pillow and groans out quietly. 

Song Minho is a fucking bastard.

His phone lits up with a loud ding and Seunghoon rolls over to grab it and mute the sound before it wakes the sleeping boys up. 

Minho has sent him a message saying he is going down to the pool, and asked to join him if Seunghoon is still awake. That idiot is going to be so sleep deprived in the morning.

Seunghoon temporarily considers ignoring the message, but he is too used to sticking around Minho like a shadow. Back in Seoul, it was because he is afraid any of Nose Ring’s gang will jump on Minho the minute he is out alone. But, here in New York, the worst thing that can happen to Minho is if he slips and drowns himself in the 5’ deep pool. 

“I know you are not sleeping.” Another message comes in. “Come down. It’s scary here.”

Seunghoon sighs and grabs the hoodie that he threw on top of his suitcase. He hesitantly puts it on and tiptoes out of the room, taking the stairs to the 4th floor where the indoor swimming pool is. 

Minho is sitting at the edge of the pool, feet dipped in the water when Seunghoon opens the glass door to the pool and adjusts his eyes to the low light. 

“You are going to be half dead in the morning.” Seunghoon says and sits down next to Minho. “And so am I.”

“We’ve gone longer than this without sleep.” Minho says and splashes the glistening water with his foot. Seunghoon leans back just in time to avoid getting water all over him. 

Minho has a point, but Seunghoon would rather not look like a zombie in his photos tomorrow. He is not like Jinwoo, who doesn’t seem to believe in dark circles or breakouts over lack of sleep. 

“I can’t believe we can’t even go to the Statue of Liberty.” Minho whines and lies down on the concrete floor of the swimming pool, hair brushing across Seunghoon’s bare thigh. 

“I know.” Seunghoon agrees and scratches the spot on his thigh that Minho’s hair just tickles. They tried to persuade the staff but it will take too long and there will be too many people. So, they just walked around New York, which is not completely a waste because Seunghoon found this small hipster clothing store on their way back, and he probably spent like half of his wallet at that store. 

“Let’s come back when we have vacation time.” Seunghoon says.

Minho gives a short snort in reply. “Which is when? I don’t see us having any free time once we reach back.”

“Well,” Seunghoon shrugs. “Don’t act like you are not excited to be busy. It’s better than being locked in the office.”

“I know.” Minho agrees and pats Seunghoon’s bare thigh. “Why do you always wear this kind of shorts? Are you in a girl group?”

Seunghoon grunts and gives Minho a short kick. He just likes shorts, ok? It is freeing. 

“My legs are sexier than most girl groups’.” He replies and straightens his legs up in the air. He may not have a face like Jinwoo or Taehyun but he has always been proud of his body proportion. “Look how long they are.”

Minho laughs and kicks Seunghoon’s calves with his wet feet. 

“Do you wax your leg?” Minho asks after a beat and Seunghoon blinks at the random question. 

“It’s just… they are too smooth.” Minho says sheepishly and gets up to wipe off the water droplets left on Seunghoon’s calf after his kick. He doesn’t take his hand off of Seunghoon’s leg after.

“No, you know I don’t have much body hair.” Seunghoon replies and twitches a little when Minho rubs his palm on his leg. 

He can feel the warmth of Minho’s palm seeping into his cold skin, and his mind races back to when the same palm was holding his neck in place so Minho can kiss him. 

Minho is probably thinking about the same thing because he turns to face Seunghoon and says, “I am sorry about earlier.”

“About what?” Seunghoon plays dumb.

“You know what.” Minho rolls his eyes and gives Seunghoon’s leg a small slap. “Sometimes, you just can’t back down with Taehyun.”

Seunghoon wants to ask what Minho is sorry for – for kissing him or for kissing him because Taehyun dared him to. But he just shakes his head and folds his legs over each other. 

“You don’t need to be sorry about anything. We were both in it.”

“You weren’t kissing me back though.” Minho says, and if Seunghoon doesn’t know better, he’d say Minho is complaining. 

“I wasn’t sure if you want me to.” Seunghoon replies eventually.

Minho stares at him. “Were you not aware of the tongue that was in your mouth? You know, my tongue?”

How does that translate to Minho wanting Seunghoon to kiss him back? 

Seunghoon is about to ask that question to Minho when Minho’s phone on the floor vibrates and rings loudly, causing Minho to jump a little. Seunghoon grabs the lit up phone because it is closer to him.

“Did you put a Google Alert on spider-man?” He asks in disbelief when he sees the content flashing across Minho’s locked screen.

“How else am I gonna keep up?” Minho replies casually and snatches the phone from Seunghoon’s hand. 

“It’s creepy.” Seunghoon murmurs while Minho ignores him in favor of opening the email. 

“What are they saying about me this time?” Seunghoon asks, only slightly amused. “Am I still several police officers disguised as one to tackle police corruption?”

The theories about him are getting more and more ridiculous each day but at least, they keep him entertained.

Minho looks up at him, his face frozen in what looks like fear and Seunghoon immediately sits up straight, worry crawling up his head.

“What’s wrong?” He asks, and Minho wordlessly hands over the phone with a shaking hand. 

Seunghoon tries to calm his nerves down and focuses on the tiny bright screen. The first headline he sees says in big bold letters: “SPIDER-MAN: MARTYR OR MURDERER?” and Seunghoon almost drops the phone in shock.

“What the fuck, hyung?” Minho whispers and Seunghoon snaps his head up. 

Murder?

“You know…” Seunghoon stutters. “You know I wouldn’t … I.”

“Of course, I fucking know, you idiot.” Minho yells back before he catches himself and looks around guiltily. “But what the fuck is that?”

“I don’t know.” Seunghoon shakes his head and taps the first link with a trembling finger. He has carried the suit here because mom said she is coming down to clean his room when he is in New York. And the suit has been resting in the bottom of his suitcase ever since he was here. Spider-Man should have been off the grid in Seoul for days. 

He can see Minho leaning in closer to get a clear look at the phone from the corner of his eyes, so Seunghoon tilts the phone a little to give Minho a better view and runs his eyes over the article the link pulls up. 

**__**

**_SPIDER-MAN: MARTYR OR MURDERER?_ **

**_In a shocking twist of events, the brutal murder of a man in his early thirties at Onsan Port reported last Friday is now being linked to none other than the Seoul masked vigilante who is known to the public as Spider-Man._ **

**_The victim, now identified as Mr. Kim Jung Woo, 31, was found dead with multiple stab wounds on Saturday morning by a port worker at Onsan Port Dockyard 27. SMPA has refused to comment on the case until today morning. During a press conference held at 10 AM KST, SMPA has divulged that their investigators have strong evidence to put the public figure known as Spider-Man to be the main suspect of the case. You can read the full statement from SMPA here._ **

**_Ms. Eun Su Bin, Senior Superintendent at SPMA, commented that the police has dedicated a special task force designated to investigate more vigorously than ever into Spider-Man. She also urged the public to come forward with any information no matter how trivial they may seem._ **

**_Spider-Man has risen to public recognition after his seemingly vigilante actions across Seoul where he is claimed to be aiding people from gangsters, loan sharks, muggers and the likes of: his most prevalent rendezvous was the rescue of Song Minho, a member of the popular Korean idol group, Winner, from a vehicle fire._ **

**_However, a lot remain skeptical of his methods and the current turn of events seem to be supporting their conviction. An anonymous source closed to SMPA has disclosed that SMPA obtained critical video evidence and the high court is looking into issuing a warrant for Spider-Man. If they succeed, Spider-Man will have no choice but to appear in court to answer for his accused crimes, one of them being first-degree murder._ **

**_Whether he is a true hero like many of his fans believe him to be (you can read their testimonials here at one of the most popular Spider-Man fan sites) or a dangerous criminal as equally numerous people consider him to be, no question can be answered clearly until Spider-Man shows the public who he actually is under the mask._ **

**_Until then, SMPA advises the public to remain calm and report any sighting of Spider-Man. Special hotlines has been opened to report Spider-Man related matters and the details can be found below or on the SMPA website._ **

**_We will continue reporting as this case develops._ **

**_Please be aware that below images are graphic and may be offensive to certain readers._ **

**__**

Seunghoon couldn’t suppress the stunned noises escaping his throat when he sees the gory photographs under the article.

The face may be bloody and lifeless but he recognizes it all the same. They didn’t take off his nose ring, and he is wearing the same clothes Seunghoon has seen him in on the day at the port. He was killed probably the same night. 

“What is this?” Minho shakes him by the arm, and hisses. “Hyung, what is going on? I don’t…”

“Excuse me.”

They both jump at the voice, Seunghoon already balling his hands into a fist in defense.

“This area is restricted for guests after midnight. Please go back to your room.” The petite girl in her hotel uniform says, holding a flashlight to their faces. 

“Right, yeah.” Seunghoon replies and gets up to his feet clumsily. Minho grabs him in time because his legs are shaking too much that he almost falls down. 

“Sorry,” they both give the girl a bow and walk out of the pool area. Seunghoon is on autopilot – he knows he is heading towards the lift and he can feel Minho shaking next to him but he can’t think of anything or clearly see anything. His head is filled with the pictures of Nose Ring’s dead face. They killed him. Like actually killed him to death.

Probably because Seunghoon destroyed a truckload full of drugs that Nose Ring was supposed to take care of. So, in effect, they are right and Seunghoon actually did cause his death.

The thought knocks him down and Minho does not manage to catch him this time. Seunghoon slips down to his knees next to the elevator door, heart shaking so much that it physically makes his chest hurt and his vision blurry. 

He doesn’t mean to cause any serious harm to anyone. He doesn’t want anyone to actually fucking die. He just wants to do something good with what he can do.

But, at the end of the day, he is a child playing pretend in a grown-up’s world that has actual bloody consequences and now a man is dead because of him. Because he becomes too self-righteous. 

“Hyung, get up, please.” Minho is saying in hushed but apprehensive tones next to him, and Seunghoon swallows down the bile in his throat and forces his legs to stay still. “You are scaring me.”

“Sorry.” He replies, mouth slacking like somebody just punches him in the jaw. “I am sorry.”

“Come on. We gotta go back.” Minho almost drags him into the elevator that just arrives and holds him up.

“I didn’t.” Seunghoon gasps, breath not coming out of his lungs. “I didn’t. I was just…” He stops trying to form words when breathing becomes too much of an issue and his chest starts getting restricted like somebody is squeezing the air out of him. 

“Hyung. Seunghoon.” Minho pulls him down on the floor and Seunghoon can vaguely register the arms surrounding him. “Calm down. Please. Just breathe and listen to me.”

Seunghoon does. He grabs at Minho’s tee-shirt until the cloth starts rubbing harshly into his skin and listens to Minho’s voice until it doesn’t sound like it is coming from under water, and just tries to breathe.

“I am here.” Minho is saying. “I know you didn’t do this. Whatever is happening, you are safe. Just breathe in and out for me.” 

Seunghoon nods and steps behind Minho when the elevator door opens.

“This is not my room.” He whispers when he becomes aware enough of his surroundings to see he is in a different room than his own. He can see Taehyun’s sleeping form two feet in front of him.

“Yes,” Minho nods and pulls him towards the empty bed. “You are sleeping here tonight.”

Seunghoon wants to argue but he can’t find a good reason to. So, he just follows Minho and lies down on the pillow Minho shoves under his head. Minho gets up to rummage around his things on the desk and Seunghoon selfishly wishes Minho is back here, next to him like a safety blanket.

But maybe this is better. Seunghoon, after all, just drove a man to his death. Minho shouldn’t be around someone like him. 

“Take this.” Minho pulls him up by the shoulder and drops a small pill onto his hand.

“What?” Seunghoon blinks and asks.

“Sleeping pill.” Minho replies and takes the pill from Seunghoon’s hand, shoving it into his open mouth. “Manager hyung got some for me after my jet lag got worse. Here, drink some water.”

Seunghoon blindly swallows both the pill and the water Minho forces into his mouth although he feels like no sleeping pill is going to calm his nerves down. He is shaking out of his skin like he needs to hit something but at the same time, he is so scared that he will collapse if he try to move. 

“Go to sleep, hyung.” Minho whispers and pulls a blanket onto him. “Stop thinking about anything. Think about it tomorrow.”

Tomorrow cannot undo what Seunghoon has done, but he is too used to listening to Minho and his eyes are getting too heavy.

“Stay here.” Seunghoon mutters and grabs at Minho’s hand lying between them. “Please.”

“I am not going anywhere.” Minho murmurs back. “I will be here. I promise.”

Seunghoon believes him.

*

Seunghoon dreams of knives and web strands, knives wrapped in web strands stabbing faceless people on the street. One of them is wearing the shirt he bought from the hipster store earlier and before Seunghoon can ask for his shirt back, their face turn into Nose Ring’s, eyes hallow and teeth bared. He pulled off the ring of his nose and blood gushes out of it and Seunghoon screams, but the blood continues dripping and Seunghoon’s white shoes are soaked in it. When he looks back up, it is not the torn nose that is bleeding anymore. The blood is from Minho’s head just like when he was in that accident and Seunghoon gasps before catching Minho’s limp body in his arm. The red scarf around Minho’s neck is soaked in blood from Seunghoon’s hands, and Seunghoon tries to listen to Minho’s heartbeat but there is none. 

Seunghoon wakes up from someone shaking his legs violently.

“So, this is how your night ends up, huh?” Taehyun asks, eyebrows raised and a wide smirk on his face. “I’ll trade rooms with you for a hundred dollars.”

Seunghoon looks down at a blearily waking up Minho next to him and the night comes back crushing into him full force. Everything after he gets into the elevator is blurry but he can still remembers everything before clear as day. 

“Hey, are you ok?” A hand creeps up on his back, and he can hear Minho’s voice thick with sleep. Seunghoon doesn’t answer and instead buries his face into his knees.

“Am I intruding the morning after?” Taehyun asks and Seunghoon almost sobs into his arms.

“Nam Taehyun. Shut the fuck up.” Minho says, voice low and serious and Seunghoon can hear Taehyun’s harsh intake of breath.

“Did something happen?” Taehyun asks in a softer tone. “Seunghoon hyung, what is going on?”

The bed bounces as Minho gets up and Seunghoon lifts his head up to see Minho dragging a perplexed Taehyun out of the room.

Minho shouldn’t be the one to keep cleaning after Seunghoon’s mess. Seunghoon should have never pulled Minho into this. He should never have started this. Fuck.

He gets up from the bed with shaky legs and wipes at his face uselessly. He has shits to do, and nothing is going to get resolved by rolling in the bed and being a pathetic mess. 

“Wash your face.” Minho enters back into the room and closes the door shut. “I’ll order room service breakfast.”

“Taehyun…” Seunghoon starts.

“Taehyun is fine. Don’t worry about it.” Minho says and starts dialing on the hotel phone. “Go wash up.”

The commanding tone of his voice makes Seunghoon just dumbly nods and stumbles into the washroom. When he comes back out, the room service has already arrived and Minho is sitting on the bed, gulping down orange juice. 

“Orange juice?” Minho asks. “Or coffee? You know what? Just take orange juice. Coffee’s probably bad for you in this state.”

“Minho,” Seunghoon says and sits across him. “We need to talk.” 

“You think?” Minho bites back and Seunghoon flinches. 

“Sorry,” Minho sighs apologetically and hands him a juice glass. “Are you alright now? Please don’t blank out on me again.”

“Sorry.” Seunghoon says guiltily. “I didn’t mean to.”

“It’s fine.” Minho waves him away. “I would have too if you didn’t get there first. It’s pretty serious, isn’t it? Being accused of murder.”

Seunghoon holds the cold glass in his hand and looks down at the dirty slippers on the floor. 

“You definitely knows something about it, don’t you?” Minho asks. “Fuck, hyung. What are you not telling me?”

“I didn’t know they would fucking kill him, alright?” Seunghoon barks.

“But you do know him, don’t you?” Minho asks. 

Seunghoon sniffles and slams the full glass on the small breakfast tray on Minho’s thighs, causing the juice to flow over and stain through the white sheets. But neither of them pays any attention to it. 

“You promised me no more secrets.” Minho lifts the tray and puts it onto the floor, before crawling closer to Seunghoon. “Please, hyung. I need to know. You need to tell me what’s going on.”

So Seunghoon does. From the camera-trap to running into Nose Ring at their photo shoot to following him to the drug shipments. By the end of it, Seunghoon’s throat is dry and itchy and his voice is strained. 

“You promised me not to be stupid.” Minho mumbles, looking no longer strong and dependable like last night. He looks like what he is. A kid. A scared kid. “You fucking promised.”

“I know.” Seunghoon nods, tears falling from his eyes without meaning to. “I am sorry. I didn’t…I didn’t realize how stupid I was. Or how dangerous it was.”

“They killed a man to frame you. Is that dangerous enough?” Minho snaps and Seunghoon puts a hand over Minho’s mouth before his voice becomes too loud.

“What are you even going to do now, you bastard?” Minho slaps his hand away and asks. 

“I don’t know.” Seunghoon shakes his head. “I didn’t hurt him. The police should find evidence of the actual killer, right?”

“You said it yourself they are in the police force too.” Minho hisses. “How can you trust them?”

“Shit.” Seunghoon leans forward and grabs at his hair until the scalp starts stinging. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Ok, listen.” Minho says. “Nobody knows you are Spider-Man. And this is not going to linked back to you since you have been in New York this whole time. I read the police statement when you were sleeping. They say the time of death was around 5 AM which is when you are already at the airport with hundreds of other people. This is not going to come back to you.”

“But I have to stop being Spider-Man.” Seunghoon continues. “He needs to disappear.”

“There’s no other way, hyung.” Minho says solemnly. “The police probably won’t find any link between you and him now, but if you keep doing this, they will, or worse, those guys will.” 

“So, whatever good I did,” Seunghoon laughs in disdain. “Is gone? Spider-Man is just going to be what? Some swinging lunatic murderer?”

“Do you prefer the alternative?” Minho asks. “Someone finds out. You end up in jail even if it is not for murder. They will slap you with something else. We disband. Hell, the whole of YG will go down under. And your family? What will they even do?”

“I know.” Seunghoon snaps because he knows this. He knows the consequences of what he is doing ever since he has started doing it. But he thinks he is allowed to be a little bitter.

“I am sorry.” Minho says, and Seunghoon knows he is sincere. “I know what this means to you. I don’t like you being him but I hate it even more that it has to come to this.” 

“It has always been coming.” Seunghoon says, wiping his tears away. “Who am I kidding? Playing superhero like some kid with a fake cape on his shoulder like I can make a fucking difference.”

“The difference is breathing in front of you,” Minho says, grabbing at Seunghoon’s hands. “I am here because of you. You were so wrong when you saying whatever good you did is gone. It is here, right in front of you. I know it. That little girl knows it. All the people you have helped know it. And it’s a fucking shame you can’t do it anymore, but it’s time for you to be selfish now.”

Seunghoon blinks away the tears pooling in his eyes, but it is no use. His eyes are getting dried and his throat is itching for something cool but he cannot move.

“Be a little selfish, hyung.” Minho pleads. “Please. If not for you, then for me. I can’t lose you.”

Seunghoon nods and lets the tears fall when Minho pulls him into his chest, arms surrounding Seunghoon’s body like he is trying to protect Seunghoon from the world.

But it is Seunghoon’s responsibility. To protect Minho, and everyone else in his life, from the world, and from Spider-Man.

And Seunghoon is going to do it, even if it means giving up on the one thing that makes him feel like human.


	13. Volume XIII: DEBUT

He can’t bear to burn down the suit this time. So, one relatively less busy night, Seunghoon sneaks out and heads towards Brooklyn Bridge, snapback hanging low on his head and hands gripping tightly at the small black plastic bag that he puts the suit in. 

Even at 1 AM, Brooklyn Bridge is a busy sight but Seunghoon manages to find a somewhat secluded spot. There is only one girl a couple of feet away from him who is too drunk to notice anything. Seunghoon tries to see if she is alright but she takes another swig from whatever bottle is in the brown bag and yells at him to go away. When he leans against the bridge rail and looks down to the river, she gets up and staggers towards the main road, leaving him alone in the fairly obscured view from the public. 

He turns around 180 degree to make sure no one is paying any attention to him before dropping the bag in his hand into the river. He stays and listens until the splashing noises of the water where the bag hits the water settle, and the night returns to its cacophony of traffic noises and muffled conversations. 

It is a lot more anti-climatic than he is expecting, and the heavy weight upon his heart does not go away like he hopes it will. He should be like Minho, who looks considerably brighter and happier after Seunghoon agrees to give up on Spider-Man. And as much guilty as it makes Seunghoon feels, he knows he just cannot be the same person a couple of months back. Spider-Man is a large part of his life now and he is honestly attached to it like an extension of his self.

But sometimes, you need to do what is right even if the cost is high. 

He folds his arms against the summer air and drags his sluggish feet back to the hotel. When he opens the door to their hotel room, Seungyoon is sitting on his bed playing random chords on his guitar and Jinwoo is nowhere to be seen.

“Good walk?” Seungyoon asks, and Seunghoon nods, taking off his jacket. 

“Where’s Jinwoo hyung?”

“Next door,” Seungyoon nods towards the general direction of Minho and Taehyun’s room. “Taehyun got a bottle of wine.” 

“You are not joining them?” Seunghoon asks and throws himself onto his bed. 

“Nah,” Seunghoon replies and plucks the guitar strings nosily. 

“What are you working on?” Seunghoon asks when he sees Seungyoon leaning over to write something down in his notebook.

“New song.” Seungyoon smiles at him.

“How about we focus on debuting our first album first?” Seunghoon asks and Seungyoon laughs sheepishly. 

Seunghoon lies down on the bed with his arm over his eyes and listen to Seunghoon strumming on his guitar, disjointed chords filling up the room in a quiet rhythm.

“Hyung,” Seungyoon stops playing and calls. 

Seunghoon opens his eyes and blinks a couple of times to get used to the light. Seungyoon is staring at him, guitar by his side and his hands folded on his crossed legs.

“Are you ok?”

Seunghoon blinks at the unexpected question.

“I am fine.” 

“You’ve been kind of down these past days.” Seungyoon says, words coming out in simple precision like he has been practicing. Seunghoon wouldn’t be surprised if he actually did practice. This is Kang Seungyoon after all. “Actually, you’ve been kind of weird for the past few months.”

“I am always weird.” Seunghoon replies in a feeble attempt to lighten the mood, but Seungyoon just stares at him solemnly, not a trace of smile on his face. 

“I am fine, I promise.” Seunghoon sighs. “It’s just, with the debut so close and all, I just feel kind of nervous.”

Seungyoon doesn’t seem completely satisfied with Seunghoon’s evading answer but he nods and crawls closer to Seunghoon’s bed. 

“Is that why you were freaking out the other morning? Taehyun told me. You know you can tell me anything, right?” Seungyoon says. “And I am not saying this as a leader. I am saying as a friend.”

“I know,” Seunghoon nods, guilt filling up to his throat. He knows Seungyoon means it. Take away the childish outbursts and bizarre sense of humor, and this is the Kang Seungyoon he knows. Right there. Reliable and perceptive and shouldering too much responsibility at too young an age. 

Seungyoon absently picks the skin on his bruised fingers and Seunghoon grabs at his hand to stop it. His fingers are always bruised and red from plucking the guitar strings without a guitar pick and Seungyoon honestly doesn’t help with picking at them all the time. 

“I know I make you guys worry.” Seunghoon starts. “But I promise I am fine. There are just some things I need to take care of myself.”

“I understand.” Seungyoon nods. “You don’t need to tell me anything if you don’t want to. Just, tell me one thing. Do you have someone? I mean, not like girlfriend or anything. Whatever you are working out, I don’t want you to be by yourself.”

“I have someone.” Seunghoon answers, and for the first time tonight, he feels like he is telling the full truth.

“That’s good.” Seungyoon gives him a wide smile. “But I am always here if you need me.”

“That’s it?” Seunghoon blurts out, half in surprise. “You are not going to grill if I am secretly seeing someone or if I am on drugs?”

“I know you are not that stupid.” Seungyoon laughs, which only fuels the fire of guilt Seunghoon feels burning inside.

“Just to make sure though.” Seungyoon stops laughing, and asks seriously. “It’s not drugs, right?”

“No.” Seunghoon shakes his head. “No drugs. I pinky swear.”

Well, unless you count burning a truckload of drugs, but Seunghoon is trying his best to erase that night and that incident from his memory.

Seungyoon hooks his pinky finger onto Seunghoon’s and shakes it side to side, apparently satisfied. Seungyoon’s trust in all of them has always been impeccable, be it in music or in life. And in all honesty, it just makes Seunghoon feels like shit more for abusing that trust.

“Thanks,” Seunghoon says sincerely. “For, you know, asking and also for not asking, I guess.”

Seungyoon smiles softly at him. “Everyone has something they keep to themselves, hyung. I am not entitled to your everything.”

“When did you grow up so much?” Seunghoon jokes, ruffling Seungyoon’s nest of hair until it actually looks like a nest. “Where’s the kid who kept following me around and kept fucking up even the easiest dance steps?”

“First off,” Seungyoon says with as much dignity he can muster while looking like a puppy that goes too long without grooming. “I never followed you around. Don’t make things up. And I told you guys to tone down the swearing, didn’t I?” 

“I am sorry, Mr. leader, sir.” Seunghoon replies, complete with a formal salute and Seungyoon lets out an indignant noise before hitting Seunghoon in the face with a pillow. 

* 

Korea is unforgivingly busy from the minute they landed from New York. There are meetings to attend for different issues - from light stick design to appearance schedules, and while Seunghoon appreciates that their input as a team is welcomed, he is going to jump out of the building next time he has to sit and look at a presentation full of various “W” in different fonts. 

Someone somewhere has a brilliant decision to put their Japanese debut back to back with their Korean one so they are back into the tiny recording room after a couple of days, putting finishing touches and re-mastering vocals on their Japanese songs. Everyone except Seungyoon has to take an extra Japanese class late at night because their Japanese is still a lot left to be desired and they are booked for multiple local interviews in Japan. 

There are even modeling classes and dad laughed for days when Seunghoon complained that he is taking a two-hour class daily to learn how to walk. Add in the PR classes, pre-interviews, photo shoots for their various endorsements, choreo rehearsals and music video shoots, by the time August rolls around and the debut is in its final shape, everyone is all too exhausted to even be properly excited. 

Seunghoon thought he would be more nervous for the very first time their songs are going to be released to the public, but he is more impatient than anxious. They have watched their music videos over and over again since the first draft of editing is completed. His copy of the very first print of their albums is already well worn out from the several times he opens and runs his fingers over it just to make sure that it is really here.

Seunghoon does not want to sound too stuck-up but god, they did fucking good. Of course, there are things he wants to change if he can have his way but despite all the compromises and hardships, he is, at the end of the day, proud of their work and more than a little to eager to show to everyone what they can do. And what they have done.

The night the album officially launches, they sit together with whoever from their families that can come down to Seoul, everyone masking their excitement and nervousness with chatters and drinks. They all agreed to not check the internet until there is an official word from manager hyung and their team who is monitoring the charts update. But when Seunghoon goes into the kitchen to grab a glass of water, Taehyun is huddled next to the fridge, the low light from his phone illuminating his face.

He smiles sheepishly at Seunghoon when Seunghoon walks past him and ruffles his hair. 

“Checking charts?” Seunghoon asks softly and Taehyun looks into the living room before nodding. 

“Everyone is waiting for someone to break the pact first. Don’t worry.” Seunghoon asks and looks over Taehyun’s shoulder. “How are we doing?”

“Number 1 on Melon.” Taehyun passes the phone over to Seunghoon. “I am too scared to check other charts.” 

Seunghoon stares in slack jaw at the sight of their songs all over the chart. He has a somewhat optimistic hope of their title tracks ranking high in chart but literally every song on their album is on the chart. Which is so fucking mental that he can’t wrap his head around it.

“I know, right?” Taehyun grins at Seunghoon and jumps up and down like he is trying to shake off the excess energy. “We are no. 1!” He shouts into the living room, and almost immediately, three pairs of feet come rushing into the kitchen, and Seunghoon has to lean back before Jinwoo elbows him in the ribs in an attempt to grab the phone from his hands.

Their manager hyung finally calls and gives an update on the charts and general initial public response around 3 in the morning but the dam has been broken, and Seungyoon has been on Naver for the past hour. Still, it is nice to hear the official words from someone else as if it solidifies the fact that they are all not having one massive hallucination. 

“It’ll go down soon. Don’t be too excited.” Seungyoon says because he lives to continuously burst his team’s bubble but Seunghoon understands him. He knows there are people waiting for them and a lot of people who are curious to check them out at the first stop but longevity is what matters, and they still have a long way to go. 

“It’d be good if we can stay in top 10 for a little while.” Seungyoon adds in before they all have to retreat back to their rooms and catch whatever little sleep they can before the next day schedules start. 

And they did. Stayed in the chart. The positions do not go down. They win a music show the very next week and Seunghoon keeps having to pinch himself to make sure this is not one of those lucid dreams. But they are also jam packed with interviews, music shows and tour preparations so everything hasn’t been sunk in properly. Seunghoon feels like he is constantly walking with a cloud in his head, unable to think about anything more than where he is needed to be next and what he needs to be doing. 

They have dinner with Chaerin one evening when both of their schedules miraculously line up and Chaerin says she will treat them as a congratulations for their first music show win. Seunghoon likes Chaerin a lot because she is surprisingly easy to talk to especially when she is not trying to set Seunghoon up with Bom for her own entertainment. 

“I sort of miss singing karaoke.” Jinwoo says to Chaerin when she asks if they want to do anything after dinner. “I mean, it’s weird because we are singing at both the music shows and on the tour like every day. But, you know, I want to have fun and sing without having to worry about my voice or the performance.”

“I know what you mean.” Chaerin nods, sipping delicately at her wine. “Me and Minji used to turn off the lights in our dorm and just dance even though the unnies say they don’t know why we are dancing after dancing day in day out at the studio.”

“You are right about one thing though.” Minho adds. “I am already missing the times before we debut, even though, you know, I’ve been waiting to debut since like I was 16.”

“You debuted for all of two weeks. Give it more time.” Chaerin laughs and Minho scratches at his head sheepishly. “And you are all pretty young. You should enjoy this.” She says like she herself isn’t only a few years older than them. 

“What do you miss about before?” Seunghoon asks, and Chaerin runs her finger around the rim of her wine glass before finally answering. 

“How I can live without much care. Of course, there was always this nagging push in the back of my mind about when I can debut but I don’t need to mind my every step and every word out of my mouth.” She stops and gives them a soft smile. “But it’s ok. In this industry, you win some and you have to lose some.”

Seunghoon nods and looks down at his folded hands on his thighs. His fingers are a little dry and thin but they look normal: they don’t look anything like ones that can shoot out adhesive web strands that are strong enough to render a grown man motionless. Before going to New York, he has finally managed to control his webs so that whoever that shakes hands with him do not end up with a sticky hand. But he cannot even remember the last time he uses his web. He even wonders if they are still functioning.

Minho, who is sitting next to him, sees Seunghoon looking down and extends out his own hand to fold over Seunghoon. Seunghoon smiles up at him and gives a little squeeze before grabbing at his own wine glass.

He has won a lot. It is ok if he loses a little. 

*

They are in Singapore, doing the YG Family tour and Seunghoon, with all his supposed spider alerts and enhanced senses, manages to fall off the stage and hurt his back. Once his back hits the ground, Seunghoon knows from the impact that this is going to take at least half a day to heal, but at least, the doctors do not look suspicious when he is forced to go to the hospital to do the checkout. 

Minho acts worried with the other members but when they are alone together on the flight back home, he laughs at Seunghoon saying his sense are going away from negligence. Seunghoon would laugh with him if he is not worried about the same thing. 

They have some live stream show right after they get back from Singapore and right before they have to leave for Japan for their own tour because who needs rest when you can sleep on the plane? 

One of the questions predictably asks them to describe each other in a word and Seunghoon playfully ribs into the members, giving funny and cute answers that the fans are expecting to hear. He says Minho reminds him of a boxer because it will never not be funny of how scared Seunghoon was of Minho when he first shows up at YG – his reputation as an underground rapper and his build and the face that Minho pulls whenever he is nervous around strangers made him look like some sort of formidable presence. At least up until Minho broke into a wide smile that changed his whole face after Seunghoon told him that he had listened to Minho’s mixtapes. 

“The one who doesn’t die.” Minho says when it is Seunghoon’s turn, and Seunghoon flusters a little, not sure how to reply. 

“Seunghoon hyung is the member who gets injured the most often,” Minho continues. “But he always get back up right away.”

The other members nod and agree because they all probably remember his now infamous stage fall, but Seunghoon knows that Minho means more than this. 

He means all the cuts and bruises that he had to help Seunghoon patch up under the low light of Seunghoon’s cramped room, and the occasional broken bones that healed fast but not fast enough that Seunghoon had to be in pain for a couple of days. He means the burn scars on Seunghoon’s chest that he used to run his hands over with tight lips until Seunghoon went to a private clinic in Gangnam to get them removed. He means the nightmares that wake Seunghoon up in the middle of the night with trembling hands and crushed weight of guilt, and eventually lead Seunghoon to crawl up into the bed next to Minho.

Seunghoon gives a thumbs up at the camera before turning to Minho who is sitting at the very far end and giving him a soft and apologetic smile. Minho smiles back at him like he is saying it’s ok you jerk. Seungyoon, then, starts talking about Seunghoon’s texting habits and Seunghoon launches into a conversation about it, Minho’s smile warm in his heart.


	14. Volume XIV: DÉJÀ VU

The Japan tour has been eating at Seunghoon’s nerves for quite a while. Despite their multiple stage experiences, this is their first headlining tour and there are just so many things to be done, from set list and transitions to stage set up and outfits. Not to mention that he has been asked to do the choreography for their songs because Mr. Yang thinks Seunghoon can come up with six different choreographies for 5 people in a couple of days.

Turned out that he can and he did, but he thinks he is allowed to feel a little annoyed about it. 

It is weird to not share an hour and a half tour with other groups and even more weird having to run to and from the stage and the backstage to change into several outfits, but by the time the third show comes and goes, Seunghoon is getting more or less used to it. Hopefully, they can probably finish this leg of tour without any major hiccup. 

They are back in Korea for some promotions and a whole day of rest tomorrow so it might be contributing to Seunghoon’s good mood as well. He is munching down on some peanuts and thinking of calling up some of his old friends for a quick lunch tomorrow when Minho stomps into the kitchen and drags him out.

“What?” He asks Minho who doesn’t reply to him or stop until they are in Minho’s room. It is lucky Taehyun is out right now because he will never let them live if he witnesses Minho manhandling Seunghoon.

“What?” He asks again as Minho slams the room door shut, and Minho wordlessly hands Seunghoon his tablet. 

“For fuck’s sake,” Seunghoon swears after one look at the first few words of article title. “Do you still have a Google alert on spider-man?”

“You might want to read the article.” Minho says and Seunghoon sits down on Minho’s bed. 

Spider-Man: Identity Revealed?

Seunghoon feels his heart shot up into his throat and his hands start to shake, but Minho is a solid presence next to him, and it cannot be what he thinks it is if Minho is still calm and collected.

Spider-Man: Identity Revealed?

SMPA has detained Seoul native Kwan Do Hyun, 27, on the grounds of "reasonable suspicion" that he operated as the current fugitive known as spider-man. Spider-man has been wanted for investigation by SMPA since July for obstruction of justice and first-degree murder of Kim Jung Woo, a case which is still ongoing and has been receiving public attention over the past few months.

SMPA has commented that they have reasonable justifications to believe Mr. Kwan as Spider-man, who has been out of public sight ever since the accusations for murder against him emerged. Although SMPA has refused to share the evidence with the public for now, the court order which is scheduled to take place around the end of September, is excepted to shed light on this high-profile case.

Little is known about Mr. Kwan who does not have any SNS account or internet profile. He is currently working as a martial art teacher at a Seoul gym where his co-workers state that even though he is quick-tempered and has excellent background in combat, he is also known to be an upstanding citizen and that they would be extremely surprised if he, indeed, turns out to be spider-man. 

Mr. Kwan’s lawyers have refused to comment but they insist that their client is innocent and has no affiliation whatsoever with the figure known as spider-man.

“Who the fuck is Kwan Do Hyun?” Seunghoon asks out loud and Minho gives him an unimpressed look.

“You are asking me that?” He grunts. 

“Fuck.” Seunghoon swears and resists the urge to throw the tablet onto the hard floor. “I thought they have dropped it. I thought spider-man disappearing is good enough for them.”

“That’s because you refuse to even look for spider-man online.” Minho says, and Seunghoon doesn’t ask how Minho knows. “It was never dropped.” 

“Fuck,” Seunghoon swears again and bangs the back of his head against the headboard. “What am I going to do?”

“I don’t know.” Minho says. 

“Why are you even showing this to me?” Seunghoon asks. He probably would have never caught wind of this if it was not for Minho, because as Minho said, he has been avoiding news about spider-man like plague. “What are you expecting me to do?”

“I don’t know,” Minho repeats. “But I know that if I don’t let you know about it, you are going to hate me. Or worse, you are going to hate yourself.”

“You know what it means, right?” Seunghoon says, fisting his hands until his fingernails dug into his palms. “You know I can’t just ruin someone's life because of how stupid I was.”

“I know.” Minho whispers. “Want to know something fucked up? I thought of hiding this from you. I thought, maybe if this guy, whoever he is, has to take the fall for you, let him be and they will leave you alone, and you’ll be safe.”

“Minho,” Seunghoon says and grabs at Minho’s dangled hand. 

“I know. I know. I am a fucking asshole.” Minho laughs. “But you are going to have to go back out and they are going to find out and fuck, hyung. I can’t.”

“Hey,” Seunghoon interrupts and grabs at Minho’s shoulders. Minho stares at him before leaning forward to bury his face into Seunghoon’s shoulder and god, Seunghoon does not even realize how much Minho must have been through. Seunghoon cannot even bear to look at any piece of news mentioning spider-man, but Minho has been reading them, and tracking them enough to be updated on the case by himself. For Seunghoon. And his heart breaks a little just thinking about it. 

“Ok. How about this?” He says, rubbing at Minho’s back. “I will have to go back out because let’s face it, this is what they probably want. Arresting an innocent man to draw me out. And I will try my hardest to get this case resolved without, you know, me being thrown in jail, and after that, I will stop everything for good.” 

“How?” Minho says into Seunghoon’s chest. “How are you going to prove that both you and him are innocent? Where are you even going to start?”

“I don’t know.” Seunghoon admits.

“And you do know that we are in the middle of album promotions in two different fucking countries and a tour, right?”

“Do you think I don’t know that?” Seunghoon asks. “Yes, I know it is going to be fucking difficult, probably impossible but I can’ t just sit and do nothing. I am not going to let a man go to jail because of me!”

“I hate this.” Minho says. “God, I hate this so much.”

“I know. I am sorry.” Seunghoon replies because what else he can say at this point except for sorry, and hugs Minho tighter. 

“It is going to be extremely dangerous.” Seunghoon says because he needs to lay all his cards on the table now. “I can’t take caution like before. There is a man’s life on the line.”

Minho grabs at his shirt roughly but does not reply. 

“But I promise I will do everything I can to not let it come back to you. But if shit happens to me..”

“Don’t fucking say that.” Minho interrupts. “Nothing is going to happen to you.”

“You don’t know that.” Seunghoon insists and pulls at Minho until he is looking at Seunghoon in the eyes. “This is not like before. There is a legit manhunt on me and I know how unfair this is and I hate myself for even asking you this, but you need to be prepared.”

“Fuck off.” Minho swears but there is no force behind it.

“You need to protect them.” Seunghoon says firmly. “My family. Our members. Everyone else. Do what you need to do. If they find out, tell them I was in this alone. Don’t implicate yourself. I don’t know, tell them I was always a psycho. Say anything to make sure nobody else gets hurt.”

“You can’t ask me to do that.” Minho replies meekly. 

“I am sorry.” Seunghoon replies, and he is. He can keep thinking how much he regrets Minho finding out and how things could have been different – Minho wouldn’t be suffering so much for him, but Seunghoon cannot change the past and undo his mistakes no matter how hard he wishes. He has to face them head on and all he can do now is try his best to protect what matters to him. 

“Stop making it sounds like you are going on a fucking suicide mission.” Minho says through gritted teeth. 

“I am not,” Seunghoon says. “But I can’t promise you that I won’t get hurt. This is not just some petty muggers in a dark alley, Minho. These are some really powerful people. I can’t guarantee what will happen.” 

“Screw them.” Minho sniffles. “If you are going to go back out anyway, fuck them up. Make them pay for what they did, whoever they turn out to be.”

“Yeah,” Seunghoon indulges in the temporary fantasy of round kicking all the nameless people responsible for this shit show, and it is satisfying enough for him.

“And come back alive.” Minho says and leans in until his forehead touches Seunghoon’s. 

“I am not going anywhere yet.” Seunghoon puts his hand on Minho’s neck and whispers back. “And maybe we are overthinking and freaking out over nothing. Maybe things will turn out just fine.”

He doubts Minho believes in his useless assurances, but Minho still gives a small nod. “What are you going to do?”

“Something stupid, probably.”

*

The one glaring problem with Seunghoon’s decision to be active again as spider-man (at least until the accusations against him drop) is that he has no suit. His one and only suit is now lying and probably decomposing at the bottom of the East river in New York.

He does have an extra mask – a slightly large one he discarded when he was making the suit, and some extra fabric but not enough for the full suit. The only suit he has is the very first he made as a prototype which is made out of shiny red and blue spandex that makes him look like a trashy go-go dancer from the 80’s. 

But beggars cannot be choosers, so Seunghoon pulls it out from underneath his old clothes in the very back of his wardrobe. He will only use it for maybe a day or two, and he can will go for a hunt on suit fabric in Japan. He refuses to believe that a place like Japan will not have a similar, if not the exact, kind of fabric that he needs. 

He still puts on a generic black hoodie on top of his shiny suit because it hurts his eyes to even look at his body in this hideous suit. There is a reason he shoves it to the back of his wardrobe once he finishes making it. He should have thrown it away or burn it with acid but at least, it is now becoming somewhat useful. 

Minho is quiet in his room when Seunghoon opens his room's window. He probably does not think Seunghoon is going out right after their talk, but they do not have much time left in Korea and Seunghoon is both too angry and nervous to be sitting still. If spider-man shows up tonight somewhere, maybe, just maybe, he can rise public doubt against Kwan Do Hyun since the guy is already in custody. And maybe it can lead to thorough examination by the police.

Of course, it is also hoping that the police are reasonable and the corruption hasn’t penetrated into the top levels of the police force, which Seunghoon doubts. 

Seunghoon doesn’t even have to go far. There is a guy dragging a smaller guy into the dark alley behind rows of restaurants, two blocks from their dorm. Even from a 7-storeyed rooftop, Seunghoon can spot the shiny glint of the knife he has put on the smaller guy’s waist. 

Seunghoon scales down the wall of the building he is perching on and shoots a web strand towards the dagger.

Well, at least, he now knows that his powers are still working. 

The guy jumps and screams when Seunghoon yanks the knife away from him and throws it into the darkness behind him. 

“Who the fuck are you?” The guy yells, looking around edgily.

“I went away for not even three months and you guys forget about me?” Seunghoon asks, jumping down from where he is sticking himself to the wall. “I am hurt, honestly.”

“No,” the guy’s eyes widen when Seunghoon comes out of the shadow, which Seunghoon hopes is because he is afraid of spider-man and not because of Seunghoon’s ridiculous suit. “You are in jail.”

“Am I?” Seunghoon asks. “That’s news to me.”

The guy lets go of the man he is holding in his hands, and hightails the hell out of the small street, not even looking back once.

“Well, that was easy.” Seunghoon mutters and turns when he hears the successive clicks of a phone camera. The guy who was being threatened earlier is frozen to the spot, phone in his hand aimed at Seunghoon. 

Normally, Seunghoon would be annoyed but this is exactly what he needs right now.

“Are you really him?” The guy asks. “Spider-man?”

“Well, I sure am not iron man.” Seunghoon opens his arms and says. "One question. Are you instagram-famous?"

"Wh..what?" The guy stutters.

"How many followers do you have on instagram?" Seunghoon repeats.

"Around...around 400, I think."

Seunghoon sighs. "That'll have to do, I guess. Do me a favour and post the one where I look slim, will you?"

"What?" The guy asks again.

"Don't get into any more trouble." Seunghoon gives him a small wave, and jumps onto the nearest wall before he can ask any more question, crawling his way up to the top of the building, ears trained for any cries for help.

Seunghoon would be lying if he says he is not enjoying this, the familiar night air blowing across the his body, and the feeling of freedom and usefulness abundant across his chest, despite the weight in the back of his mind that is telling him that he shouldn't be. 

Seunghoon lets out a heavy sigh and sits down on top of the roof, legs dangling down from the edge and leans over on his knee, hands clasped together and eyes watching over the city. Seoul is a busy sight under him, traffic bright and people noisy, and Seunghoon has never felt more alive.


	15. Volume XV: PRESENT

The next morning is a blur with manager hyung dragging them out of bed (literal dragging was involved in Seungyoon's case) at 4 AM to catch the flight to Sapporo at 7. Seunghoon barely has time to eat the cold bread he has been handed over for breakfast, let alone check his phone, until they are at the airport lounge.

Once he finally manages to go on Naver, there are already quite a number of articles regarding spider-man because apparently, netizens do not sleep. There are a few photos of him last night taken at various angles, and articles with topics ranging from "Copycat spider-man?” to “Kwan Do Hyun: Innocent or Accomplice?” But there is no dramatic effect that he is hoping for because a lot of people seem to think that the spider-man spotted last night is either a copy cat or a partner in crime with Kwan Do Hyun. 

Seunghoon has imagined this much, but he still feels a little discouraged. Without his original suit or something that looks identical to the original suit, people are going to question his legitimacy even if he manages to be active as spider-man every night, which he won’t be able to because he will be lucky to be in Korea for a consecutive week for the next few months.

He sighs out loud, and bangs his head against the wall in frustration, making Jinwoo to turn at the sound and ask if he is alright. Seunghoon just nods, probably unconvincingly. When he opens his eyes, Minho is staring at him from across the line – looking both equally sad and angry, with his phone in hand. Seunghoon knows that Minho is looking at the same articles as him and he temporarily thinks about crossing over to Minho but he doesn’t have a single clue on what to say, so he just closes his eyes again and lets Minho be. 

Minho comes and sits next to him on the plane when they board, and steals Seunghoon’s orange juice so he cannot be that angry. Once the plane takes off, Minho leans over and whispers “That suit is fucking ugly” into SH’s ears, and before Seunghoon can respond, he lays his head down on Seunghoon’s shoulder and stubbornly goes to sleep. Seunghoon smiles despite himself and holds Minho's hand all the way to Sapporo. 

Seunghoon spends all his meagre free time in between rehearsals and interviews painstakingly checking his phone to see if there is any official update from SMPA but things are silent on that front even though the media is having a field day with the new spider-man sighting. Unfortunately, the doubts of copy cat spider-man are spreading faster than he calculated, mainly because of the new and much more home-made-looking suit. 

Seunghoon honestly cannot blame them because this is the only identifying evidence that the public has on spider-man, and he curses at himself for the hundredth time that he threw his suit away. At that time, it makes sense because bringing it back to Korea posed a higher risk with the air traffic checks tightening up around the time he gets back from New York due to the spider-man’s case.

His only option is to replicate the suit. That is, if he can find a similar fabric. But so far he has no luck in finding the polycarbonate lycra honeycomb fabric around Japanese textile shops or even at the largest sports fabric stores. Most employees look at him with a blank face when he asks about the fabric like they have never even heard of it. He has an extra patch of fabric but he thinks it is too risky to bring it out to show it to the people even if he is in a different country. 

He vaguely wonders about going down to manufacturing warehouses but he doesn’t know where to start and it would be extremely suspicious for someone to go down to a warehouse plant and buy a personal suit worth of fabric. He even tries searching for the company that he bought the original fabric but their website domain is up for sale and he can’t find any clue on where the company went. 

At this rate, he is going to have to use normal spandex to make a new suit – which while may look better than what he has right now, does not look anything like his previous suit. And to be honest, SH misses his previous suit a little – it is sleek and easy to move in unlike normal spandex which clings horribly to his skin after he sweats out.

His other option, the one that he doesn’t even want to acknowledge, of course, is to appear in court and take the heat off of Kwan Do Hyun but Seunghoon sure hopes it does not come to this. Appearing in court basically means turning himself in and he doesn’t see any escape from it. He has an alibi from murder as Lee Seunghoon but he has none as spider-man, so unless he tells the world that he is spider-man, there is no point in appearing in court. And he is pretty sure that he will end up either in jail or possibly dead in a ditch somewhere if he reveals who he really is. Not even to mention the shit storm that will follow up.

Still, it is one of the options no matter how much price he has to eventually pay.

Letting Kwan Do Hyun take the fall for him is already out of the possible options. Seunghoon has already cost a man’s life. He is not going to cost another.

By the time they are back in Korea, however, Seunghoon is seriously out of any option other than to remake the suit with normal spandex because his search for the polycarbonate fabric yields nothing and he is not going to take chance and look for it in Korea when the public attention is heating up. 

Taehyun tags along with him on the shopping trip because he has been itching for a pair of shoes that he saw online, and Seunghoon makes the mistake of telling him the truth about going shopping. Seunghoon ends up buying a shitload of fabrics including the one he needs for his suit just to throw off any suspicion from Taehyun. But all members are familiar with Seunghoon's penchant of making his own clothes so Taehyun does not think anything strange out of it. 

They arrange their purchased items to be delivered to the dorm – one of the perks of shopping at a YG-affiliated store and then have to head straight to a magazine photo shoot that lasts a lot longer than Seunghoon is anticipating.

Once they get back, their items are already delivered and Seunghoon shuts himself in his room, claiming that he is going to answer the long overdue interview questions they were given by a Japanese magazine.

At least, he is only dying the fabric today and letting it dry first so he will have some time to actually answer those questions if he doesn’t sleep. And sleeping at night on his bed like a normal person is too much of a luxury these days anyway.

The fabrics he bought are packed by type which is nice and all but still frustrating because he has to open the tightly packed packages one by one to find the white spandex he bought, and up until the last package, he still cannot find it. Of course, the one he is looking for has to be put at the very bottom. 

Once he lifts up the unopened package though, his heart drops a little because while it is not like spandex weights much, the package is far too light for the amount of spandex he bought. If the store sends him the wrong package, he is going to need an extra day making the suit and that is a day more that he cannot waste.

Once he tears up the package messily and reaches his hand in, however, his heart drops for a very different reason. A cold wash goes down his spine like someone just dunks him in the middle of Sapporo except that he is also starting to sweat, and he can’t breathe like the air around him is sucked out in a vacuum. 

He knows the touch of it without having to actually pull it out from the package. He has felt it a thousands time from the thousands of time he used to put it on before.

It is his suit. The one that is supposed to be rotting away at the bottom of a river 7000 miles away. And he knows it is that particular suit. He doesn’t even need to see the stain on the shoulder from the one time he accidentally leans on a wet-paint wall or the slightly crooked spider symbol that he has been meaning to fix. 

It is his suit.

It takes everything in him not to scream out in shock. He can hear every single minute sound – from the rustle of the papers on his desk from the slow wind out of the air-con to a cat mewling at the next street over because all his senses had gone into hyper alerts and are screaming out danger.

Someone knows.

They know that he is spider-man, they know where he lives, who he is. They know everything.

Seunghoon has thought about it before, what it would be like when the world finds out, but for some reasons, he has never imagined this bone-crushing terror running through his body. His hands are shaking terribly but the suit in his hand does not drop, because in his distress, he has been involuntarily sweating out sticky web strands from his fingers. 

He pulls at those strands in a daze and tries to pull himself out of the blinding fear. There are more important things to be worried about – he has a plan, in case someone finds out, in case something like this happens. But the reality of it is sending him into a downward spiral of panic and shock and his brain has short-circuited to the point where he has trouble standing up like his limbs are no longer attached to his body.

His family. It’s the first thing. He needs to make sure nothing has happened to them.

Fuck, where is his phone?

It takes him a couple of tries just to unlock his phone and calls mom. His heartbeat grows louder and louder and he thinks he is going to pass out from how fast his heart is beating until mom finally answers the phone groggily.

It must be at least midnight. He is not sure.

Mom, thankfully, is used to Seunghoon’s outbursts at ungodly hours. Her sleepy yet familiarly soothing voice calms Seunghoon down just a tiny bit and he can breathe a little easier. She thinks he is having trouble processing all these – the continuous debut and promotions and tours and never-ending interviews, and he doesn’t correct her and let her speaks meaningless comforting words into his ears. 

She is fine. She says dad has already gone to bed and even both his sisters are at home for the weekend. But who knows how long until they are no longer safe. Whoever knows about him is now a danger to everyone around him and Seunghoon wants to hide them away before they end up like Nose Ring or even worse. 

All because of him.

He ends up crying a little and he knows mom can tell, but she doesn’t mention or make a big deal out of it and tells him to get a good night sleep without thinking about anything.

But how can he?

When she finally hangs up, Seunghoon has to put his palm over his lips to stop himself from begging her to stay on line with him until whenever, and maybe ask her to hug him and kiss him on the head like she used to do when he was six and broke his leg during a dance practice. 

But there are things that cannot be fixed by mom’s kisses and he needs to deal with them before it is too late. 

He knows the package is delivered to the front security desk and it shouldn’t be too much trouble to get the CCTV footage when the package was delivered and trace back who has delivered the package.

It is sort of a wild goose chase but he doesn’t have any better idea right now.

But first, he sits down quietly, next to his abandoned suit and listens to the silent apartment. He can hear the four distinct heart beats echoing across the walls in peace, and he tries to regulate his breathing in sync with their heartbeat. They are at least safe for now, and unlike his family in Busan, he can protect when the push comes to shove. His parents already have plans to come for their show in Nagoya, maybe he can persuade the whole of his family to come to Fukuoka show as well. Japan might be safer than Korea, he cannot say but at least he can have everyone under his eyesight.

He pulls the suit out from the package, the once familiar and loved suit now feeling like a triggered time bomb to him. He runs his finger along the suit, not sure what he is hoping to find – maybe a hidden trap or some sort of clues.

He doesn’t have much hope to find anything useful, but he does, in the unattached mask. 

It is a stickie note, the yellow kind you always find in offices and so unthreateningly ordinary that Seunghoon has to double check it is not some kind of disguised weapon. 

But it is just that: a thin sheet of paper whose most harmful effect is a paper cut. 

He shoves his fisted hand into his mouth, biting at the skin hard enough to leave marks before turning the paper over and reading over the words written in rushed Hangul.

This is the second time I gave you the suit.

There won’t be a third time.

342, Gocheok-Dong at 2 am tonight. Meet an ally.

And wear the suit.

x

 

Seunghoon has to read over the note three times to make sure what he is seeing is correct. No body gave him the suit the first time nor has he ever lost it until he threw it away in New York. He made this from scratch based on his own design, and he even has the initial sketches somewhere to prove it.

But the address in the note is familiar, and a quick search through his email confirms what he is thinking. It is the address to the warehouse where he first went down to get the fabric from the warehouse sale. 

It is too much to be a coincidence. 

He tries to conjure up everything he can remember from the day he bought the fabric but nothing outstanding has come to mind except that he remembers the saleslady to be a little scary.

But it means that whoever this person is, has known about Seunghoon for months.

Although it does not make sense because the police’s or the gangs’ attention was not heavy on spider-man back then. Sure, it was right after Minho’s accident so people are becoming more aware of spider-man, but the traps on him from the gang and the police started only about two or three months back.

 

Seunghoon feels a tiny silver of hope that maybe they are not his enemy if they have kept his secret for this long without him even noticing, but he is not too naïve to believe completely in it. Everyone has an end goal that doesn’t exist outside of their personal gain. 

He takes a glance at the clock on the wall and it is ticking at 1:00 AM which means he needs to leave soon if he wants to show up at the warehouse tonight. 

Even though he is not sure he should. Everything feels like a trap and honestly, how much of an idiot would he have to be to put on a suit that is hand delivered to him from an unknown party who fishes it out from the bottom of East River because what? They feel bad for him? 

And if what they say is right and they somehow managed to give Seunghoon the suit material in the first place? It is all the more reasons to not put it on.

Fuck. Come to think of it, it is no wonder that even Japan’s largest sports fabric store has never heard of a polycarbonate lycra honeycomb fabric.

If this is a custom-made fabric and they can set up such elaborate schemes to get to Seunghoon, he cannot even begin to imagine how powerful they actually are. Maybe more so than Nose Ring’s basement gang could ever be. 

The curiosity is ticking away at his caution and Seunghoon knows he is being an idiot, but this is the first real clue he has had since forever, and, he has so many questions with zero answers. Maybe this is a way out or maybe it is not. But what is worst that can happen has happened. Someone already knew about him and he has already put his family and friends in danger. The least thing he can do is face them down and demand answers. 

He decides resolutely, hoping that no spider alarm going off in his head when he puts on the suit means he is not making a fatal mistake, which is a weak way to decide on things, but he has not much to go on other than to rely on his instincts.

He climbs out of his window, feeling déjà vu except with more nerves and fear, and breathes in the night air.

He doesn’t know what he is walking into, and there could well be dangers and traps waiting for him, but he is going to try his damndest to come out of it alive, even if he has to do it kicking and screaming.

But first, he scales the wall between his room and Minho’s, and knocks on the window repeatedly. 

“What the fuck.” He can hear Minho getting up from his bed inside the room. “It’d better be you, Lee Seunghoon and not some random ass ghost.”

“It’s me.” Seunghoon answers, loud enough for Minho to hear but not too loud for others in adjacent rooms to take notice.

Minho opens the window in a second and Seunghoon climbs through it, light feet touching the marble floor.

“What is with … hey, isn’t this your old suit?” Minho asks, touching at Seunghoon’s covered chest. “I thought you threw it out?”

“I made a new one.” Seunghoon replies in a rash, hoping Minho doesn’t notice that it is his original suit. “I have some extra fabric.”

Minho looks like he wants to question further but he just shakes his head and looks at Seunghoon. “Are you going out now? We have a radio show in like 6 hours.”

“I’ll be back in time.” Seunghoon says, crossing his fingers behind his back. Hopefully, he will be back in time and in one piece.

“Ok. Can you please take off the mask? It’s freaking me out.” Minho says, and tugs at Seunghoon’s mask. 

Seunghoon sighs and takes it off. If someone is watching, they know who he is anyway.

“You alright?” Minho asks. “Your face is kind of pale.”

“I am fine.” Seunghoon nods. “Listen, I have my phone with me, so if anything happens, anything at all, call me immediately. Keep your phone on you.”

Minho narrows his eyes. “Did something happen?.”

“No, I just…” Seunghoon swallows, hating every second that he has to lie to Minho again. “Like I said, it is more dangerous these days and I don’t know if that gang is still going to come and find you.”

“I doubt they will come kidnap me in our dorm.” Minho snorts. “We live in a pretty secure building.”

Seunghoon doubts anywhere is secure enough but he doesn’t mention it.

“Just. Keep your phone with you please. So that I can have some peace of mind at least.”

“Alright, fine.” Minho says indulgently. “I will sleep with it under my pillow.”

“Thank you.” Seunghoon says in sincerity and grabs at Minho’s dangling hands. “I’ll be back soon.”

“You’d better.” Minho smiles, and Seunghoon falters a little. 

“Are you sure you are alright?” Minho asks once more. “Are you hiding shit from me again?”

“Huh, no, no. Nothing like that.” Seunghoon shakes his head and tries his hardest to smile. “Just thinking where I need to go first.”

“Go somewhere that will not get you beaten up badly.” Minho says. “And maybe somewhere with good lightings. People will believe you are the real spider-man if they get a good photo of you in this suit.”

Of course, Minho knows what Seunghoon is trying to do with the original suit even though Seunghoon has never directly discussed his aimless plan with Minho. 

“Ok,” Seunghoon nods and grips at Minho’s hands a little tighter. “Don’t forget what I said. If anything happens, call me immediately.”

“I will.” Minho says and pushes Seunghoon backwards gently. “Now, go quickly and come back quickly. You should try and get some sleep before tomorrow.”

Seunghoon nods, pulls his mask halfway on, leaving his nose and mouth open and climbs out of the window, clinging himself on the wall and window frame.

“You really are like a spider.” Minho wrinkles his nose and says when he leans forwards and sees Seunghoon sticking onto the wall with his toes. “Gross.”

“Good night, you little shit.” Seunghoon laughs despite himself and says.

“Don’t break anything.” Minho says and yawns loudly before moving to close the blinds on the window. 

“Hey, Minho.” Seunghoon calls, tracing his eyes over Minho’s sleepy face. 

“What?” Minho answers, blinking down at Seunghoon.

Seunghoon leverages the window frame and pulls himself up until he is right in front of Minho’s face.

If he is walking into a death trap, what is one more risk to take? And after the kind of night he has, Seunghoon thinks he needs something a little better in his life before he swings headfirst into the unknown.

“Come here,” He says and moves before Minho can, leaning in until their lips touch. He can feel Minho’s body tenses up in front of him, but he gradually relaxes once Seunghoon tilts his head and moves his lips a little. 

Seunghoon has to hold himself on the window frame so he can’t exactly move anything except his face but Minho can and he grabs at Seunghoon’s face, thumbs rubbing at the spot where his half-rolled up mask ends. Minho deepens the kiss, nudging at Seunghoon’s lips until they part and Minho can lick his way into Seunghoon’s mouth.

Minho is not a gentle kisser – Seunghoon knows this from the multiple times in clubs where he had seen Minho made out with different girls and occasional boys. But he is strangely tender this time, even if it is a different kind of tender from when they kissed in New York. This time, it is more assured and firm but still Seunghoon can get an undemanding softness from the way Minho sighs into the kiss, like they have all the time in the world.

But they do not, and Seunghoon pulls away first, unable to resist leaning in and planting a small peck on Minho’s chin when Minho whines at the lost of contact.

“What is it for?” Minho asks, licking his slightly swollen lips and it takes everything in Seunghoon not to take them in between his own again. 

“Something for me to get through the night.” Seunghoon smiles and pulls down his mask before letting go of the frame and free falling from the ledge.

“You have the fucking worst timing. Do you know that?” Minho mutters after him, perfectly aware that Seunghoon can hear him even if he is already swinging away into the night.

Yes, Seunghoon does know that. 

Tonight, possibly, is the worst fucking timing of it all.


	16. Volume XVI: ALLIES

The night is threateningly quiet. Seunghoon usually enjoys the silence after spending days and nights around powerful speakers and powerful voices. The quietness that comes with the late night has always been his favorite because it always feels like the world has stopped for a little while and he can breathe.

Except for tonight.

The night maybe quiet but Seunghoon can hear the squeaking tires against the roads three blocks over when a random car passes through the normally deserted industrial zone, and some clocks ticking from the inside of various factory plants around him. He knows that if he gives into his hyperactive senses now, he is going to become sensory-overloaded so he tries to keep calm as much as he can and focus on the padlocked gate in front of him.

The warehouse that he bought the suit material six months ago now looks completely abandoned. The grasses inside the gate have not been maintained for months and are swaying wildly in the night wind. The large padlock on the tall gate is already rusty and so is the gate actually. Like it hasn’t been opened in months. 

His phone reads 2:10 AM so it is not like Seunghoon is early but he cannot detect any heartbeat or breathing from inside the warehouse. He cannot spot a single person as far as his eyes can see as well. He ponders if he should go inside but even his recklessness has limits, so he sits himself down on a large branch of the tree he is hiding himself in and keeps an eye on the warehouse. 

The note says to find an ally but unless they means the occasional rats that run across the field in front of him, he probably has been duped for reasons he cannot comprehend. 

Why get him to come down here when they already know where he lives?

Maybe it is easier to get rid of his body here. Huh. 

Seunghoon is considering going back when the background engine noise that he has been hearing for the past few minutes draw closer and closer. There is a main road a couple of kilometers away from where he is so he doesn’t really pay particular attention to vehicle noise, but this one is becoming uncomfortably louder.

He flattens himself among the thick leaves of the tree and crouches a little, ready to pounce on whoever is coming. His heart is beating faster and faster like a bass thumping in his ears while he waits for his potential adversaries. 

A small sedan parks right in front of the gate and the engines quiet down as the car comes to a stop, the night going back to its quiteness. Seunghoon holds his breath, half hoping to see one of the guys from the Nose Ring’s gangs to hop off of the car and start kicking at the gate.

Except, the one who opens the driver door and goes straight towards the gate is someone Seunghoon hasn’t seen before. And actually, someone Seunghoon wouldn’t have imagined to face when he comes down here.

She is half his height, easily, and sort of petite in a way that makes her looks like a high school student but she is obviously old enough to drive a car. Her face is shrouded in the shadow of her big hoodie so Seunghoon cannot clearly see her face to guess her actual age, but Seunghoon is pretty sure he hasn’t seen her before. 

If this is the one behind the suit and the notes, it is kind of unimpressive. Seunghoon can take her down in two seconds flat and he doesn’t even need to use his webs.

That is, until he sees the bolt cutter in her hand. Seunghoon is not going to underestimate someone wielding a metal bolt cutter twice the size of their arms. 

She cuts through the rusty lock with difficulty – it is pretty obvious that she doesn’t much experience using a bolt cutter. Or much upper body strength actually. The lock does give out eventually at her persistence though and Seunghoon can hear her sigh before she turns around to go back to her car.

She takes off her large hoodie and Seunghoon can see her face better but he still does not have a clue who she is or how she is related to spider-man. She looks older than him, at least in her late twenties and kind of has the office worker noona type, especially in her smart blouse underneath the hoodie.

She grabs her bag and locks the car, before staring at the dark warehouse for a silent minute and pushing the gate open. 

Seunghoon stands up, unsure if he is to follow. She doesn’t show any sign of noticing him here and he has serious doubts that she could be the one behind his suit. But his curiosity is running out of control and his needs for answers far outweighs any realistic reasons he can come up with to run away now. 

He drops to ground, right next to her car and checks the inside of it. There is nothing out of place – it is as mundane and boring as one of his sisters’ cars. The only item of interest is a lanyard peeking out of the dashboard with a logo too small and crooked for Seunghoon to see. 

He hears a vague “hello?” from inside the warehouse, with the accompanying echoes and stands up, checking around him to see if there is anyone else, but the night is as quiet as before, except for the small footsteps that comes from the warehouse.

He runs on his toes into the compound, doing a somersault over the fence instead of using the gate in case it makes any kind of noise. He has – or at least he thinks he has – the element of surprise now and he fully intends to use it. 

He has been eyeing at a wide open air vent on the side of the warehouse building earlier, large enough for him to crawl through. So, he scales up the wall as quietly as he can and pokes his head through it, absorbing in the scene inside the warehouse.

There is nothing much to observe though. The girl is looking around the empty warehouse, which is just floor and pillars, with a small flashlight that is not strong enough to light up the whole area. Seunghoon has to give her points for her nerves because even he wouldn’t dare to go and poke around an abandoned warehouse in the middle of the night with a meager flashlight and a bolt cutter. Which Seunghoon now remembers, she left in the car. 

He takes advantage when she turns her back on him and drops off on the ground, and no matter how much he tries to lighten his steps, there is still an impact made when his feet touches the ground, and the small noise produced by it is amplified by both the quietness and the vacantness of the space. 

She turns around at the noise, flashlight right at his face and Seunghoon loses his footing a little when the light pierces straight into his eyes. He can hear her shrieking and a second later when he regains his sight, she is aiming a taser at him with shaky hands. 

Well, seems like bolt cutters are not the only weapons this girl wields.

“Are you…” She swallows nervously. “Are you really him? Spider-man?”

Seunghoon answers by shooting a web strand at her taser and yanking it out of her hand, making her to yell and jump back a couple of steps. He lunges forward after throwing the taser to the wall and grabs at her shoulder before turning her around and putting his arm right across her neck.

It is not that he wants to put someone half his size in a chokehold but he needs to appear more threatening and self-assured than he is feeling right now. She grabs at his hand in panic and tries to kick at his legs wildly. While her attacks are uncoordinated and inexperienced, she does manage to kick him hard a couple of times in the knee. 

Seunghoon tightens his hold before she chokes herself writhing in his hold, and says into her ears. “I think I should be the one asking questions. Who the hell are you?”

“My name is Ban Eun Ri.” She says, settling down a little when she realizes that trying to wriggle her way out is not going to work.

“Am I supposed to know who you are?”

“No. I don’t know. Listen. I am just a reporter. I am not here to do anything.” She says in a rash. 

“Why are you here in the first place then?” Seunghoon growls, hair standing up at the word “reporter”. His feelings towards reporters are lukewarm at best and he cannot fathom what a reporter could possibly be doing here. Unless, of course, she is lying which she probably is.

“I was tipped off by someone. They ask me to come here for a case I am working on.”

“Stop lying.” Seunghoon says through gritted teeth. “You want me to believe that you just walked into an abandoned warehouse at 2 in the morning following an unknown tip?”

“I never said unknown.” She replies. “I mean I don’t know them exactly, but I’ve followed tips from them before and they always worked out. Of course, I didn’t think I would actually run into you.”

“Who are they?” Seunghoon asks. “What did they say about me?”

“Are you even listening?” She answers in an impatient tone like she is the one having upper hand here. “I said I didn’t know I would run into you.”

Seunghoon is still working on trying to tell if a person is lying from their heartbeat, and although he is still not good at it, he has a feeling that she is telling the truth. Sure, her heart is bouncing rapidly across her chest, so much so that he can feel it without having to rely on his hearing. But he thinks it is more due to the fear.

Still, he is not letting her go easily. 

“How did they contact you?”

She does not answer.

“Hey.” He shakes her a little and asks again. “How did they contact you?”

“I am not giving away my source! Not even to spider-man.”

“Yeah? Try again.” He says and tightens his hold just a little more, enough to scare her. 

“Shit. Shit.” She says and claws at his hands until he relents a tiny bit. “Fine. Let me just… I am just going to take out my phone to show you. I am not …”

Seunghoon grabs her bag from her hand, while still holding her in place with one arm and fishes out until he finds a phone. He hands it over to her, keeping a close eye in case she does something like calling the police but she opens her gallery, flipping through a couple of images until a photo of a yellow stickie note comes into view.

“They send me this. They won’t say where it comes from.”

Seunghoon takes a closer look, and on the note in the photo is an almost identical message to the one he gets, asking her to go to the warehouse address at 2 in the morning. 

“Please.” She says. “I am telling the truth. I am just here to follow a lead.”

Seunghoon thinks she is either extremely dumb or telling extremely bad lies because who drives down to the edge of the town, into the abandoned and creepy unknown in the middle of the night to follow a lead?

And yes, he knows he is sort of dissing himself but at least, he has valid reasons.

“Are you usually this stupid to walk into unknown places at this time for a news lead?” He asks the girl.

“I am a crime reporter.” She snaps. “My work is dangerous. I am used to it. And I am getting desperate with my current case. I need anything I can use.”

Well, Seunghoon can relate to that. 

“What case is it?”

“Kwan Do Hyun’s.” She says with perfect clarity. “Am I wrong to assume that you are here for that case as well?” 

Seunghoon almost drops her in his surprise. 

“You said you didn’t know I was going to be here.”

“Yes but it doesn’t take a genius to connect the dots. I mean, I still don’t know exactly why you are here but it has to be for this case. You only resurfaced after news of his arrest broke.”

She sighs when Seunghoon does not respond.

“Look, I am right, yes? I know I am right. We are both here for the same thing. We both know Kwan Do Hyun is not spider-man so why don’t you let me go and we talk like civilized people?”

“You seem perfectly calm for someone who is alone with a guy charged for murder.” 

“Oh, I am terrified down to my bones, trust me.” She replies. “But if it helps, I don’t think you kill that guy.”

Seunghoon intakes a breath in surprise, but does not let her go. “How can you be sure?”

“I am not but I have my own reasons to think that you are being framed. And if you stop trying to crush my windpipes, I will think about sharing them with you.”

“Or I can start actually crushing them until you talk.” Seunghoon snarls. 

“Jesus.” She shouts. “And everyone says you are actually kind of a nice guy.”

“Who’s everyone?”

“People I interviewed. I have a profile on you, and before you threaten me again, I think every reporter in Seoul has one. You have kind of been a big deal lately.”

“So what? You think your profile on me is enough proof that I am not a murderer?”

“Of course not. It doesn’t say anything about your murdering tendencies. Like I said, I have reasons. Not 100% solid but enough to cast some doubts.”

“Well, start talking then.” 

“Let me go first.” She says and doesn’t flinch when Seunghoon growls. “You sound as desperate as I am, which means you need to know what I know.”

“You think I am not going to torture it out of you?”

“I am taking a chance.” She says. “Plus, there is a recording device in my bag that is streaming our conversation right now onto my work desktop. If something happens to me, your voice is now on tape for the police to hear.”

Well, shit. Seunghoon has been trying to lower his tone on purpose but still it is a damn big risk.

“So, let me go and I promise I will tell you what I know.”

Seunghoon drops his hands and she stumbles forward, clumsily rubbing at her neck. 

“You are not as tall as I was expecting.” She says when she turns around to fully face him.

“Stop the recording now.” He points at her and says.

“It has already started streaming since I entered. It won’t change anything.”

“I don’t care.” Seunghoon snaps. “Stop it now.”

“Fine.” She says and picks up the bag Seunghoon throws on the ground earlier. “I will do it just as a show of faith.”

She takes out a blinking sleek recorder from her bag and turns it off. 

“Satisfied? Can we talk now?”

“Why are you not running the hell out of here?” Seunghoon asks. “I’ve already let you go.”

“Are you kidding me? How many chances am I going to get to be face to face with spider-man? You can answer so many questions I have.”

Unfortunately, Seunghoon does not think she can do the same for him. She does not know – or is hiding – who is behind this little set up, and this is his main objective of coming down here.

But the night does not have to be completely useless.

“Why do you think I am being framed for murder?” He asks. 

“You need to answer some questions from me first before I let you in on my findings.” She says.

“I don’t have to answer shit.”

“So, our friendly neighborhood spider-man likes to swear now and then, huh?” She says and Seunghoon growls.

“I need to know you really are the spider-man.” She continues. 

“I don’t have a spider-man ID card if that’s what you are looking for.” Seunghoon snaps.

“No, but tell me this. Until what time were you at the Onsan Port on the night Kim Jung Woo was murdered?”

Seunghoon freezes a little. She knows he was there and although he is not sure how far her knowledge goes, it is already more than what he is expecting.

“I don’t know.” He answers honestly. “1 or 2 AM. Not later than 4.” He was already back home before 4 AM because that was when manager hyung picked them up to drive to the air port.

“That makes sense.” She says even though Seunghoon does not know what makes sense. “Just one more question. There was a fire that night about 500 meters from where Kim Jung Woo was murdered. A truck was burned down. Do you know anything about it?”

Seunghoon tightens his fist. “I am not answering anything until you prove yourself to me.”

She sighs and rummages around her bag before handing him a small ID card that says “Ban Eun Ri, Crime Reports , Seoul’s Daily Bugle”.

Seunghoon reluctantly takes the ID card and looks it over.

“I have an informant in the police.” She says. “They say there are a lot of information not released to the public, like the fire. And the videotape.”

“What videotape?” Seunghoon asks in shock.

“There’s a CCTV in the hallway where Kim Jung Woo was found.”

That … should have solved everything. If what happened that night was caught on tape, the police should have seen that Kim Jung Woo was alive and screaming when Seunghoon left him before his gang could jump him.

“But,” she continues. “It was tampered with. Or at least, my contact thinks it is. There is footage of you fighting with Kim Jung Woo and holding him against a wall, but it cuts off right after that. Port security claims it is hardware fault.”

“Don’t you think it is too convenient that it cuts right off before it can actually show the murder?” Seunghoon asks in disbelief. “Any idiot could have seen it and draw the same conclusion.”

“Why do you think they haven’t released the footage to public? But you have to realize you are literally the only suspect in the case and that footage is by far the most concrete piece of evidence they have.”

Seunghoon bites his lips hard enough for them to start stinging. 

“The fire,” Eun Ri starts again. “Do you know anything about it?”

“I do.” Seunghoon nods but does not explain further. He no longer thinks she is here to hurt him but it does not mean his extends his trust towards her as well. 

She seems to pick up on what Seunghoon is thinking because she gives a deep sigh before shouldering her bag and crossing her arms.

“Look, I know you don’t have much reason to trust me but we both want the same thing. So, you can either start talking to me and we can figure this thing out together. Or you can go back to wasting your time prancing around Seoul.”

Seunghoon snarls at her. “What is in it for you? Why are you so stubborn on proving Kwan Do Hyun is innocent?”

“I want to prove spider-man is innocent.” She corrects him. “And I don’t know. A Pulitzer would be nice. I would take a promotion as well. Like I said, you are kind of a big deal right now, which makes this the biggest case every reporter is chasing.” 

While what she said makes sense, Seunghoon still has trouble reconciling the fact that maybe she really is here to help. He has never once thought about having an ally as spider-man. Minho is the closet thing he has to one, but then again, Minho is in a different categorization altogether.

“Prove it to me.” He says, after Eun Ri starts fidgeting under the silence. “Prove it to me that what you have been saying is correct.”

“How?” She asks, a little cautiously.

“Get me the tape you were talking about.” Seunghoon says. While it does not verify about her intentions, it can at least prove whatever she has been saying is true.

“Are you serious?” She stares at him. “I only have a contact inside. I don’t actually own the police force. How I am going to get a SMPA property?”

“That’s for you to worry about.” Seunghoon replies. “Meet me back here tomorrow at midnight with the video. And I’ll tell you everything I know.”

“And you?” She asks. “Am I just supposed to trust you without proof then?”

“I am spider-man.” He shrugs and says. “And I have a personal stake in this case.”

“You don’t though.” She says. “You can drop the costume and walk away and no one would be none the wiser. And you were for a few months. Why do you come out again?”

Seunghoon hesitates. “I have my own reasons.”

“I think what you have is a hero complex.” She says. “But I will keep that for my psycho analysis section on you.”

Seunghoon rolls his eyes but do not respond.

“Tape. Tomorrow. Midnight. Got it.” Eun Ri says and puts her phone and ID card back into her bag before looking up at him. “Can you please get me back my Taser? It is expensive, you know.”

Seunghoon sighs and shoots a web strand towards the vague direction of where he flung the Taser earlier.


	17. Volume XVII: PROGRESS

The next morning, Seunghoon bumps into a groggy Seungyoon on his way to the kitchen, both of them too sleep deprived to clearly see where they are going. 

“How did it go last night, hyung?” Seungyoon asks with an accompanying yawn.

Seunghoon freezes a little, rubbing at his eyes to see if he mistakes Minho for Seungyoon in his daze, but it is Seungyoon in his inimitable bedhead. 

“How did what go?” He asks back a little slowly as Seungyoon sinks into the dining chair. 

“I thought you were answering the questions for that Japan magazine? Have you finished everything?”

“Right.” Seunghoon exclaims dumbly. He has done maybe two questions out of like fifteen. “I still have some left.”

“Same,” Seungyoon whines. “They are so boring I fall asleep.”

“You still look like you are asleep.” Seunghoon takes out the cereal box from the cupboard and runs his fingers through Seungyoon’s messy hair. “Go wash up and eat something before we have to leave.”

Seungyoon whimpers but picks himself up and staggers towards the bathroom. 

Seunghoon is pouring his cereal into a bowl when Minho and Taehyun walk into the kitchen, both looking equally tired. Seunghoon blushes a little when he meets Minho’s eyes and almost pours the cereal out onto the table.

He turns around before Minho can say anything and opens the fridge to get the milk carton but freezes when Minho suddenly comes up besides him to grab at the same bottle.

“Sorry.” Both of them drops the bottle like it is biting at their hands. 

“You go ahead,” Seunghoon says, at the same time when Minho says “You go first, hyung”, and the following silence is so awkward that Seunghoon is cringing down to his toes. 

“I was just.. I mean, it’s fine. You go ahead.” Minho stutters, gesturing his arms unsurely.

“Oh my god, it is too early for this.” Taehyun grunts and shoves his way in between them and grabs the bottle for himself before gulping the milk straight out of the it. “What’s wrong with you two?”

“Nothing!" They both answer in unison. Taehyun squints at them and shakes his head like he can't be bothered with them right now, and leaves the kitchen with Seunghoon’s milk. 

"I'm gonna go shower." Minho points towards the vague direction of the bathroom and retracts quickly before Seunghoon can get a word in. 

Seunghoon sighs and munches down resentfully on his dry cereals. 

The radio show is not being filmed so at least, they can forgo the usual hair and make up routine. Thank god for small miracles. And if the atmosphere between Minho and Seunghoon is awkward, the show hosts either do not notice or are too nice to comment on. But, of course, the members all notice by the time Seunghoon tells a ridiculously forced joke that nobody laughs at for the third time. 

"Whatever you two are fighting about," Seungyoon says during lunch. "Figure it out before the dinner tonight." 

Shit. Seunghoon forgot that there are having an early birthday dinner for Jinwoo tonight. He hasn't even bought a present yet. 

"We are not fighting." Minho mumbles from the other end of the table where he is nested between Taehyun and manager Hyung. 

"Whatever it is, sort it out.” Seungyoon says, clearly not believing him. 

Minho looks over at Seunghoon meaningfully and Seunghoon looks down at his plate like the coward that he is. Now that he has his head in place, he realizes how stupid he has been last night. And it is not just about him going down to the warehouse without telling anyone.

He can blame his fear and desperation for what he did last night but the truth is he has been wanting to do it for a while. Except he knows why it is a bad bad bad idea and he had tried so hard to bury it down deep within a little box in his heart that says “Do not Open”.

Minho is blowing the steam off of his soup when Seunghoon finally looks up at him and Seunghoon blushes a little at Minho’s pouting lips. Taehyun smirks at Seunghoon when he sees where Seunghoon’s gaze is going and mouths the words "love spat?" at him. Seunghoon channels all his confused feelings into flipping Taehyun off and immediately gets caught by Seungyoon who starts lecturing about how they need to have manners in public. 

Seunghoon skips his Japanese class after lunch, because he needs to go shopping for Jinwoo’s birthday present. Plus, he has detours to make. 

He checks in at the fabric store where his suit was supposed to be delivered from. They apologize profusely for missing out the spandex but they don't have any idea how it could have gone missing since the shop assistant personally packed the items and hand delivered it to their dorm. 

They did say that all their to-be-delivered items are stored in the back room until it is evening, so Seunghoon thinks it is reasonable to assume that someone probably hijacked and changed the package before it was sent off on his route. 

There is no CCTV in the back room and the staff is starting to give Seunghoon weird looks for making such a fuss over some spandex so Seunghoon just thanks them and leaves the shop, accepting the spandex they give to him in place for the missing one. Now, he has useless spandex and no answers.

Actually, that is not quite true because while he may still not know who is behind the suit, last night was not a complete waste. For now, he is going to focus on working on Nose Ring’s case because he has made more progress with it unlike his attempts to find out who is behind the suit. Plus, if they have kept his secret for months, he is, at least for the time being, accepts it with a healthy dose of suspicion and wary. He already has a tour and a murder case to worry about.

He searches for Ban Eun Ri online when the shop assistant is packing up his present for Jinwoo. There is surprisingly a lot of results that come with her name, despite her being supposedly just a reporter. But a lot of them are about her work. The most personal thing he can find is her giving a speech at her university on graduation day. 

The interesting thing, however, is a police case she was involved in about a year back. According to some articles that show up as first results, she was brought into questioning for being suspected as part of a Korean online hacktivist group called KANY – short for Korean Anonymous. But she wasn’t charged with anything as there was little evidence since she has no technology background and her internet and computer histories returned clean.

Seunghoon has heard of KANY before – mostly when he was still in high school. They used to make quite a scene, posting and uncovering corrupted politicians and people of power but they kept getting shut down and there were even a few arrest reports of the people behind KANY. Seunghoon doesn’t realize that they are still active a year back.

Seunghoon clicks through most of the links, but they all come down to more or less a few topics: Eun Ri graduation speech, her KANY case and her getting some journalism award two years back for her coverage of a blackmail case involving a politician and a gang head. The rest are links to her authored pieces published on Seoul’s Daily Bugle website.

At least, she seems to be who she says she is. Still, Seunghoon bookmarks most of her articles, although he does not know how he is going to find time to go through them all.

*

He reaches half an hour late to the restaurant where they are having Jinwoo’s birthday dinner because he runs into Jaehyung at AvenueL and their schedules rarely sync so they decided to go for a quick coffee, which ends up being a two-hour talking session. 

But the birthday boy is even later than him. Jinwoo is off meeting his parents who are coming down to Seoul for his birthday and they are caught in traffic. Seunghoon worries that something might have happened to them until Jinwoo starts sending a series of crying stickers into their group chat because the traffic is just not moving. 

The only seats left are the three empty chairs at the end of the long table for Jinwoo and his parents and a seat next to Minho, which Seunghoon is pretty sure is Taehyun and Seungyoon’s doing from the way the maknaes are smirking at him.

Whatever. It is not like he has an actual fight with Minho. He can deal with this. And he should before they re-starts the tour again anyway.

“What did you get for Jinwoo hyung?” Seunghoon starts on a safe topic and leans over to ask Minho.

Minho glares at him a little but answers. “A new PS. Joint gift from me and Taehyun.”

“Is that a gift for him or you two though?” Seunghoon snorts and Minho grins at him. 

And just like that, the awkwardness is broken.

“What did you get then?”

“A coat,” Seunghoon pats at the bag on his lap. “And a waxing kit for when he is cross dressing on tour.” 

Minho laughs. “You are a horrible person.” 

“I know,” Seunghoon smiles and puts the heavy bag in between them. 

Minho grabs the menu in front of him after the silence stretches thin between them. “Do you want to share a tapa plate later? I think the portion here is quite big.”

“Yeah sure,” Seunghoon says distractedly. “Whatever you want.”

Minho stares at him for a while but focuses back on the menu.

“Hey,” Seunghoon knocks his foot with Minho’s and says. “Can we talk?”

“Can we do it later?” Minho replies in a low voice. 

Seunghoon has to go meet Eun Ri tonight and they have practices starting from tomorrow and up until they have to fly back to Japan so Seunghoon is not sure when “later” can possibly be. But he still nods and agrees.

“Are we ok though?” He asks Minho.

Minho turns his head and looks at him for a while before nodding. “Yeah, we are fine.”

Seunghoon feels like he should push further but he is not well-versed in dealing with your good friend after you kissed the shit out of them the night before, so he just takes it as it is. Plus, Jinwoo rushes in a couple of minutes later, apologizing everyone for being late, so the conversation is dropped. 

* 

The sangrias start flowing around 30 to midnight and Seunghoon takes it as his cue to leave, claiming work. Only Minho is aware of his lies. The rest just probably thinks he is running away before his members become inebriated and Seunghoon has to be the caretaker for the rest of the night. 

Minho gives him a disapproved look but Seunghoon returns an apologetic smile and asks manager hyung to call him a cab. 

*

“You are late.” Eun Ri says once Seunghoon drops to the dirty floor of the warehouse through the same window. 

“I can’t exactly grab a cab in this.” Seunghoon replies and eyes at a laptop set up on the floor. “What is this for?”

“How else are you going to watch the video?” Eun Ri answers. “Does your suit has a flat screen and a USB port hidden somewhere?”

Seunghoon does not remember her being this snarky last night. 

“I hope you know how many laws I actually have to break to get this.” Eun Ri mumbles and plugs a USB stick into the laptop.

“You were breaking and entering last night.” Seunghoon points out. “You already broke the law.”

“There is a difference between illegally obtaining a police property and breaking into an empty warehouse that has nothing valuable.” Eun Ri replies. “And, by the way, I don’t suppose you know who own this place? I mean, whoever set up our little meeting last night, must be pretty loaded, right?”

“I was hoping you can that question last night.” Seunghoon shrugs and says. “Plus, maybe they don’t actually own this place.”

“Hmm,” Eun Ri mumbles thoughtfully and turns the bright screen towards him. 

Seunghoon crouches down and peeks at the screen. Eun Ri has skipped forward to the point in the video where he had run into the view, obviously lost and looking for a way out. Then, Nose Ring came up from behind him and they struggled for a while before Seunghoon shoved him against the world and snarled into his face. Which, in hindsight, does look pretty threatening and a little frightening if he says so himself.

But like Eun Ri says, the video cuts off after it without any trace of how Seunghoon leaves the scene after Nose Ring’s gang buddies tried to corner him. 

“I left right after that.” Seunghoon says as the video ends. 

“Why?” Eun Ri asks. “It’s not like he was able to fight you back. You had the upper hand there.”

“See the last part where I was looking back over my shoulder?” Seunghoon rewinds the footage a little and points at the screen. “That’s because Nose Ring’s friends were coming up on me.”

“Who’s Nose Ring?” Eun Ri asks, perplexed.

“Kim Jung Woo, sorry.” Seunghoon says. “I call him Nose Ring because you know,” he gestures around his nose, “nose ring.”

“Right.” Eun Ri raises an eyebrow at him. “You must have known him for a while to give him a pet name.”

“It is not a pet name,” Seunghoon grunts. “It’s just something to call him other than the guy who keeps trying to kill me.”

“So, you do have run-ins with him before.” Eun Ri says.

Seunghoon sighs and passes her the camera he has been holding on. 

“What’s this?” She asks.

“My proof.” Seunghoon answers and clicks on the play button. He has seen this footage a thousands times: it opens with one of Nose Ring’s lackeys setting up the camera and the long period of nothing before spider-man jumps into the dark alley where Nose Ring and his partner are trying to mug the lady. 

“He’s a police!” Eun Ri gasps when the video reaches to the point where the moustached cop hits the lady cop over the head. “What the hell!”

“Yeah,” Seunghoon nods. “Guess there are more than just your employee in the police force.”

“He’s just a source. He does not work for me.” Eun Ri mumbles before the footage ends. “I mean, I always knew there is corruption inside the force, but kind of weird to be actually presented with the evidence. Why didn’t you hand this over to the police?”

“Are you kidding me?” Seunghoon says. “You just saw a police bashing his colleague’s head in. Plus, if I do it now, it will just add motive for me.”

“Yes, you are right,” Eun Ri nods. “My bad. I had like five hours of sleep in the last 24 hours.”

Well, that is two more than what Seunghoon had. 

“So, this marks the beginning of your little relationship.” Eun Ri continues. “What happens after?” 

Seunghoon sits down and tells her about how he eventually ends up threatening Nose Ring at Onsan Port, with certain amount of fake details like how he ran into him. 

“Did you spot any Chinese that night?” Eun Ri asks after Seunghoon is done.

“How do you know?” Seunghoon asks in genuine surprise. “I thought you didn’t know anything about the fire?”

“I never said that.” Eun Ri replies. “Although you are right. I don’t know much about the fire, but there is something else my source told me.”

“Your source tells you a lot of things.” Seunghoon notes. 

“You be in this business for more than a few years and you start building good relationship.” Eun Ri replies. “But enough about my source. They told me that there is a mark on Kim Jung Woo’s body, a Chinese character that means cost.” 

“Like the cost of a burned down truck full of drugs.” Seunghoon pipes in.

“I would say so, yes.” Eun Ri says. “The first conclusion was gang war after the initial examination of the body. A lot of Korean and Chinese gang work together but they are notorious for how much they dislike each other. But, after the IT team pulls the footage, they changed their target to you.”

“But why didn’t they report the fire? I mean, do they…” Seunghoon asks. “Do you think there is someone higher up targeting me?”

“They are not obligated to report everything to the media.” Eun Ri reminds him. “And we don’t know if they are going to report the fire or the character they found on Kim Jung Woo’s body to the court yet. But I would say it’s reasonable for you to be suspicious of that as well.” 

“I still don’t understand one thing.” Seunghoon asks her. “Where did Kwan Do Hyun fit in all this?”

“He’s a bait.” Eun Ri replies. “Or at least I think he is. His girlfriend is an employee at the Onsan Port Authority so she has the keys to the office you and Kim Jung Woo are in. And he fits the build and size of you. I think they also found some hair particles that belonged to him near Kim Jung Woo’s body. I am not sure. My source is not involved in his arrest.”

“They do realize my suit does not let my hair to fall outside, right?” Seunghoon asks, pointing at his head mask.

“No one knows how your suit works.” Eun Ri rolls her eyes. “Most of your pictures are either very dark or blurry. The clearest ones are the photos taken at Song Minho’s accident, but it is pretty obvious you are wearing a different suit since then.”

Seunghoon does not comment on the suit because it will just lead to questions he does not want to answer. 

“So, what, you think Kwan Do Hyun is a bait? For what? Me?”

“Considering you were seen again one day after the news his arrest broke, I would say yes. It is and it works.” 

“I have only been seen in the public for like a night though.”

“And a lot of people thought that was a copy cat.” Eun Ri says. “I don’t know. I am not sure where they are going to take this case. Maybe they will just thrown Kwan Do Hyun to the wolves to appease the public. The case is gaining a lot of traction.”

“Doesn’t he have an alibi?”

“He says he was at home but there is no body who can confirm.” 

Seunghoon sighs. “So, what’s our next move?”

“Our?” Eun Ri asks. “So, we are working together now?”

“I thought that is what we have been doing for the past hour?”

“No, that was exchanging information.” Eun Ri smiles, probably for the first time since Seunghoon met her last night. “But I am not averse to working with a superhero. Always wanted to be a side-kick.”

“I am not a superhero.” Seunghoon grunts. 

“Your track record begs to differ.” Eun Ri says. “Anyway, I think we should focus on the first guy that appeared in your video.”

“The guy who was setting up the camera?” Seunghoon asks in mild surprise. “Why?”

“Because he is the one clear face we have. I can get some … help, and try to tack him down. Plus, did you see the way he was getting yelled at when he was setting it up? I think he is quite green in the underground world. Maybe it’s easier to shake him up.” 

“You know, you are kind of scary.” Seunghoon says truthfully.

“Says the guy who can stick people to walls.” Eun Ri says and closes the laptop. “Give me some times. I’ll try to see what I can do. Hey, maybe you can check out Kim Jung Woo’s hide out?”

“Already done.” Seunghoon answers. He has visited the basement behind the restaurant a couple of times over the last week. It is always closed and quiet. “I think they shifted base.”

“Well, guess there is no easy way around.” Eun Ri sighs.

“How are you going to track that guy down?” Seunghoon asks, a thought forming in his mind. “KANY?”

Eun Ri tenses a little. “I guess you looked me up, huh?”

“Need to see for myself who I am trusting.” Seunghoon shrugs unapologetically.

“I am not a hacker or part of any online hacking group.” She says, the words coming out so smoothly that Seunghoon can almost see the thoughts and practices that went behind them. He, himself, has done it more than handful of times. Telling enough small truths to cover the big lie behind it.

“But you can be an associate, can’t you?” He asks. “You don’t need to do the hacking yourself or be part of a group to be an asset.” 

“I am not going to answer anything unrelated to what we are working on.” Eun Ri says resolutely and Seunghoon lets it go. What she does in her time is irrelevant to him as long as it does not interfere with what they are trying to achieve. “I will get back to you in a week.”

“A week is too much.” Seunghoon protests. “I am not going to be around for a couple of weeks after this Saturday.”

“What?” Eun Ri says. “Why? I thought this case is important to you.”

“I am not spider-man 100% of my times.” Seunghoon answers. “I have other priorities.”

“Damn, hard to imagine spider-man going on a vacation.” Eun Ri mutters. “Fine. Kwan Do Hyun’s trial is drawing closer anyway. We need to get somewhere as soon as possible.”

“How do I contact you?” Seunghoon asks.

“Don’t suppose you can give me your number?” Eun Ri asks and Seunghoon snorts. “Ok. Here’s my twitter. She writes down quickly on a piece of paper and hands it to him. “Keep an eye on it. I’ll update it when I have news.”

“You are just going to tweet that you found a gang member for a murder investigation?”

“Don’t be dumb.” Eun Ri rolls her eyes. “I’ll figure out something.”

She puts the laptop in her bag and stands up, shaking out her legs a little like they are cramped. 

“Why are you doing this?” Seunghoon asks, something that has been nagging at his mind all day. “I mean I know it is your job but is your job worth it? For you to go into this much danger?”

Eun Ri stares at him in silence before speaking up. “Why do you put on that suit?”

Seunghoon does not have any easy answer for her but he gets what she is trying to say.

“There are people fighting for their own reasons,” She continues when he does not respond. “It’s just… not all of us wear a mask.”


	18. Volume XVIII: TRUTH

When Seunghoon gets back to the quiet dorm, he almost has a heart attack when he sees someone sleeping on his bed until his eyes adjust to the darkness and he recognizes Minho. 

Seunghoon gets out of the suit as noiselessly as he can and changes into his sweatpants before sitting down next to an asleep Minho, slightly shifting the bed frame. Minho whines in his throat before blinking his eyes open. 

“You are back?” He asks heavily.

“It’s ok. Go back to sleep.” Seunghoon says and pulls the blanket to fully cover Minho. 

“I was waiting for you.” Minho rubs his eyes and says. “But I fell asleep.”

“How much did you have to drink?” Seunghoon asks and moves until he is resting his back against the headboard. 

“Not that much,” Minho answers. “Jinwoo’s parents were there so we were behaving ourselves.”

“Yeah, right.” Seunghoon laughs.

“I am serious.” Minho slaps at his thigh and says. “They are so gentle and earnest I don’t want to disappoint them.” 

“What time did you all get back?” Seunghoon asks.

“Around 1 or 2.” Minho says. “What time is it now?”

“4:30.” Seunghoon takes a look at his wall clock and answers. Damn, he was with Eun Ri for longer than he thought.

“You were out last night too, right?” Minho asks. “What are you doing outside? I didn’t see any article about spider-man today.”

“I am…” Seunghoon trails off. “.. working on something.”

“What something?” Minho pushes further. 

“Just … something.” Seunghoon answers helpfully. “I will tell you if it works out. I don’t want to just get your hopes up.”

Minho purses his lips. “You used to tell me everything.” 

“Minho…” Seunghoon starts. 

“Is this because of last night?” Minho asks and Seunghoon sighs. Guess they are talking about it even if both of them are tired as hell right now. 

“It is not.” Seunghoon answers. “There are things that even I am not sure of. I can’t give you a clear answer yet. I am sorry.” 

“I don’t like being in the dark.” Minho says and gets up until he is sitting shoulder to shoulder with Seunghoon. “What if something happens to you and I don’t even know it?”

“I don’t know. And I can’t promise you anything because I am taking risks that you are not going to like.” Seunghoon confesses and Minho’s frown gets deeper. 

“You know, if I die from stress before I turn 25, it is probably because of you.” Minho grunts and Seunghoon smiles sadly.

“I am sorry.” He says, feeling like he can never apologize enough to Minho. 

“What about the other thing the previous night?” Minho asks. “Was that a risk too?”

Seunghoon looks down the cartoon characters on his bed sheet and traced the cartoon bear’s outline with his fingers. “That was …”

“A mistake?” Minho interrupts.

“No,” Seunghoon shakes his head. “Something I shouldn’t have done, I guess.”

Minho laughs in disbelief. “How is that different from a mistake?”

“Mistake means you regret it.” Seunghoon answers. 

“So, you don’t regret it?” Minho asks and Seunghoon lifts his head up to look at him. 

“No,” he shakes his head. “But, I won’t probably do it again in the future.”

“You are so confusing, you know that?” Minho says, not unkindly. “Do you like me?”

Seunghoon tenses at the sudden question. He knows Minho is always straightforward but this is a whole different level they are talking about. 

“You know that I do.” He finally answers. He has already kissed Minho – there is no point in hiding it.

“I can never tell when it comes to you,” Minho says but Seunghoon thinks it is a blush creeping up on Minho. “You always joke around.”

“I’d never joke about this.” Seunghoon leans his head against the wall and says. 

“So, you do like me.” Minho says.

“Yes, I do.” Seunghoon replies. “But, Minho, I …”

“This can never happen.” Minho interjects. “I know. You don’t have to tell me.” 

“Yeah,” Seunghoon sighs. “I am sorry.”

“It’s fine.” Minho laughs. “I’ve already made peace with the fact that I can’t date seriously until like 30.” 

“Why the hell did we decide to become idols?” Seunghoon laughs. 

“And, you are spider-man on top of that.” Minho says. 

“Yeah,” Seunghoon nods. “As if things are not complicated enough.” 

“I like you too.” Minho says. “In case it wasn’t clear.” 

Seunghoon turns his head to look at Minho’s face in the dark and smiles. “Thanks.”

“Is it something to be thankful for?” Minho leans in until they are forehead to forehead and asks. 

“I don’t know,” Seunghoon whispers. “Never had a boy liked me before.”

“Liar,” Minho murmurs back before kissing him.

And Seunghoon knows he just said 30 seconds ago that he would not do this again but Minho’s lips are soft and taste slightly of fruity sweetness and Seunghoon cannot do anything but sigh into them, opening his lips apart when Minho’s tongue nudges them. 

Minho grabs at his waist, fingers firm and persistent, and Seunghoon moves his body until he ends up straddling Minho’s lap, Minho’s hands on his hips and Seunghoon’s hands bracketing Minho’s jawline. The kiss is rushed and aggressive and Seunghoon is panting soon even though he knows he has more stamina than a normal human, but he guesses he is out of breath for a whole different reason than tiredness. 

Minho bites down on Seunghoon’s lower lip, and Seunghoon honest to god whimpers in his throat, and Minho just laughs a little into his mouth because he is a jerk. Seunghoon slaps him gently on the cheek to get him to stop laughing but the fondness must have come across because Minho just sighs contentedly and grabs at Seunghoon’s hand on his cheek to lace their fingers together. From palm to palm, Seunghoon can feel the blood thumping within Minho’s veins underneath his palms, and as creepy as it sounds, nothing has ever made him feel closer to Minho than now.

But because Minho is … well, Minho, his free hand slip under the waistband of Seunghoon’s sweatpants and the feeling of the cold skin contact shocks Seunghoon’s common sense back online. He pulls back, grabs at Minho’s hand which is already on its way down to his ass and glares at the culprit. 

“We just said this cannot happen.” He says to Minho, who is looking up at him dazedly. 

“I know.” Minho says and pecks at Seunghoon’s lips. “Never.” Another peck. “Nothing is happening.” Yet another peck.

And as much as it hurts him, Seunghoon knows where they are going to end up if he doesn’t take drastic measures, so he climbs off of Minho, ignoring Minho’s protests and attempts to hold Seunghoon in place. 

“Go sleep. We have rehearsal in the afternoon.”

“I hope you die of blue balls.” Minho glares at him. 

“Let’s not complicate things more.” Seunghoon sighs and pulls at Minho until he stands up reluctantly from the bed. 

“If you haven’t noticed,” Minho says despite Seunghoon trying to push him out of the room. “Things are already pretty complicated.”

“I know,” Seunghoon says and closes the door on Minho’s face. “Good night, Minho.”

*

The next two days are trying times for Seunghoon. One, because Eun Ri’s twitter is silent as the day he first checked it. He should have at least get her number to check on the progress, and now anxiety is eating away at his nerves. He is scheduled to leave day after tomorrow and every ticking minute passed is bringing him more questions and wary.

Minho does not help either. 

They have an endorsement photo shoot, a couple of interviews and classes scheduled over the few days they are in Korea, and Seunghoon can’t believe he is saying this, but Minho is excessively all over him. It is an arm across the waist or a pat on the back or a quick hug, and it is not like Seunghoon is not used to Minho’s excessive skinship, but every touch from Minho seems like there is an intent behind it, and leaves Seunghoon a little short of breath each time.

It is also possible that it’s just all happening in Seunghoon’s head and Minho does not even notice.

“You don’t seem to be going out at night lately.” Minho says when he is spotting Seunghoon in the gym – or more precisely, pretending to spot Seunghoon while clocking in the gym hours for himself so trainer hyung will get off his case.

“I am working on something.” Seunghoon pants, trying to regulate his breathing while balancing the weights over his head. It is a shame his powers do not bring super strength because it’d make a lot of things hella easier. 

“That’s what you said last time.” Minho mumbles and taps on the weight, a signal that means Seunghoon’s 20 seconds are over.

Seunghoon grunts and pulls down the weight before sitting up on the bench, and massaging his arms. 

“Do you want me to spot you?” He asks, changing the conversation.

Minho looks down at the weight in disgust and shakes his head. “Nah, I am gonna go back to the TRX.”

“You know you are gonna have to lift weights sometimes if you want to actually build muscles, right?” Seunghoon asks and follows Minho out to the open area where the TRX straps are set up.

“Don’t keep changing the subject.” Minho says, as if he is not trying to change the subject of him and his ultimate hatred of lifting weights. “What are you doing with the you-know-what?”

“Not here, alright?” Seunghoon says and helps Minho adjust the TRX strap. “It’s too public.”

“It’s not like we are getting a lot of private times these days.” Minho complains. “You are always glued to either Jinwoo hyung or Seungyoon at home.”

Which is true. Seunghoon has been using them as human shields in case Minho comes and knocks him down senseless again.

“Pull,” he taps on Minho’s bare shoulders and says. Minho glares at him before grunting and pulls his body down in effort.

His phone lets out a sound and Seunghoon takes it out to see a notification from twitter, and his heart starts jumping wildly. He sets it up to send notification whenever Eun Ri tweets and it has been silent on that front so far.

Until now. Eun Ri has sent out jus two tweets.

The first one says, “Finally found the dress I was looking for.”

The second one says, “I was at the same place same time last time but I only managed to find it today.”

It is a little bit obvious if you know the context but Seunghoon will worry about it later. Right now though, it is closing in on 11:30 at night and he needs to run if he wants to make it to the warehouse by midnight. 

“I need to go.” He says to Minho, shoving his phone back into his gym shorts.

“Did something happen?” Minho stands up and asks.

Seunghoon thinks Minho is going to punch him for real this time if Seunghoon says “I’ll tell you later” again. So, he just nods and runs off before Minho can ask any further question. He is going to have to deal with it later. 

*

When he arrives, the place is dark and silent as the first time he was here, and Seunghoon would rather not go into the dark warehouse and wait, so he sits down on a branch of one of the trees outside and keeps an eye out on the main road.

He has to idly sit and stew in his thoughts for almost half an hour before a familiar sedan rolls down the street. Seunghoon exhales out – happy enough that she actually turns up and jumps down from the tree when Eun Ri gets out of the car. 

She shrieks, and throws the bag in her hand at his head.

“Ow,” Seunghoon gasps. “What the hell?”

“Can you not do that?” Eun Ri screeches. “This place is already creepy on its own. Why can’t you say hi like a normal person?”

“I dress up in spandex to beat up people.” Seunghoon snorts and picks up her bag. “Why do you think I can behave like a normal person?”

“Point,” she replies and catches the bag Seunghoon throws to her. “Get in.”

“Why?” Seunghoon asks. “Where are we going?”

“Just get in.” She says and opens the car door to the driver’s seat. “I’ll explain on the way.”

Seunghoon hesitates a little but Eun Ri is gesturing at him impatiently inside the car, so he walks around it and gets into the front seat. 

“We really need to find a better meeting place.” Eun Ri says as she backs out the car over the bumpy road. “I’ve spent half my pay on gas alone driving way out here.”

Seunghoon sincerely hopes that they will not be in need of a meeting place after everything is resolved and he can bury the suit. 

“What did you find out?” He asks instead when the car takes a turn into the main road. “And where are we going?”

“A club.” Eun Ri answers. “I tracked the guy down and followed him earlier. That’s why I was late.”

“You followed him?” Seunghoon gapes. “Do you know how dangerous that is?”

Eun Ri gives him an unimpressed look. “I know what I am doing. I’ve been doing this shit since I was 20 so I don’t need you being all patronizing.”

“I am not patronizing you,” Seunghoon mumbles. “Look, I can’t have any more people hurt because of me, alright? I can’t have another Kwan Do Hyun on my conscience.”

“That’s not for you to decide,” Eun Ri replies. “Whether this is your case or another case, I am often in dangerous situations because that’s my job. Kwan Do Hyun is a different thing altogether.”

Seunghoon does not feel like arguing so he just stares out of the window. 

“How did you track that guy?” He asks. 

Eun Ri purses her lips. “Police Records. He has an arrest record before.”

“You hacked into police records?” Seunghoon blinks. Isn’t she the one making a big fuss over having to get the tape from SMPA just the other day?

“I didn’t hack into police records. I never said that.” Eun Ri says.

“Right…” Seunghoon drawls.

“It is a last resort thing.” She sighs. “I wasn’t going anywhere with my other leads, but the arrest record has an address on it so I went down there earlier today and wait him out.”

“And followed him to the club?”

“And followed him to the club.” Eun Ri nods. “It is one of those shady ones in Chinatown, and I am pretty sure I know the gang that runs it.”

“Let me guess, you have a profile on Seoul’s underground gangs, as well?” Seunghoon asks.

“No,” she rolls her eyes. “I sort of ran into them before. A couple of months back, one of their lackeys was harassing some residents over at Guryong over some land selling issues.”

“I thought property is dirt cheap in Guryong?”

“Yeah, but one family there wasn’t willing to sell their place even at a good price. They were resisting the offers made to them and this guy came in at night, threatening the father to take the offer. I followed up the story but they eventually decided to sell it so I didn’t get anything good.”

“Why do they want a place in Guryong so badly?” Seunghoon muses. “It’s not like it has anything good around.”

“Last I heard, a construction company was planning on a residential development project, which itself is a good idea but I think the way they are going about it is a little out of line.”

“Wait,” Seunghoon says, a memory forming in the back of his mind. “Do you know which company is that?”

“Union something,” Eun Ri mumbles. “They are relatively new and I couldn’t look much into their history. They seem to be an offshore company though.”

“Union Allied.” Seunghoon mutters. The logo on the trucks Nose Ring and his gangs used, the panic on Nose Ring’s face when Seunghoon mentioned the name. 

“You know that company?” Eun Ri turns to him and asks. 

“Yeah,” Seunghoon nods. “Nose Ring … I mean Kim Jung Woo … he and his gang used to use these trucks with its logo on it. I think, at first, it was because maybe some of them work there and just using the company truck, but …”

“But it seems like it is more involved than you thought.” Eun Ri finishes his sentence. “Interesting. I always thought it was a little fishy that a Seoul residential development plan is being handled by a foreign company. They usually go to local ones.”

“We can worry about Union Allied later.” Seunghoon says, not wanting to get distracted of the current task. “I need to find this guy … what’s his name again?”

“Lee Kwan Soo.” Eun Ri mutters and hands him a small file on the dashboard. “17 and probably an errand’s boy. He was arrested for pick pocketing and minor assaults.”

Seunghoon flips through the file although it does not tell him anything useful. “He’s so young.”

“It is Seoul.” Eun Ri says and parks the car in an empty car park. “A lot of people have to grow up early. You, yourself, do not sound that old either.”

“No comment,” Seunghoon says and Eun Ri laughs in surprise. 

“Don’t worry. I am not going to find out who you are under the mask.” She says, taking the file Seunghoon hands her back. “I am familiar with anonymity.”

“I bet,” Seunghoon replies, only half teasing. 

“So, what’s our plan?” She asks and points to a rundown building across the parking lot. “The club is there. They were turning a lot of people away earlier so I assume something is going on.”

Seunghoon can see two large guys guarding a red door, and music coming out of the building it low thumping bass. 

“There is no our plan.” He turns to Eun Ri and says. “I’ll handle it from here.”

“The hell you are,” Eun Ri snaps. “I didn’t come here this far to be ditched.”

“I am not ditching you.” Seunghoon says even though he sort of is. “Look, all this investigation and stuff is your lane. I get that and you have done it perfectly. But sneaking around in a gangster hideout is more my thing.”

Eun Ri opens her mouth to argue but Seunghoon cuts her off. “You know I am right. I can stick to walls and swing out if it’s necessary. You can’t. Plus, you don’t have a mask. They’ll see you.”

Eun Ri grits her teeth. 

“I promise I won’t screw it up. I’ll get something.” Seunghoon says solemnly. 

“Take this then,” Eun Ri says, handing him a small blinking rectangular block she took out from her jeans pocket.

“What’s this?”

“A recorder.”

“What is it with you and your obsession to record everything?” Seunghoon grunts but takes it and shoves it into his boots.

“Reporter’s habit.” She replies. “I am putting my trust in you to give that back to me.”

“I won’t steal it.” Seunghoon rolls his eyes. 

“Take this also,” Eun Ri hands him a small business card. “It has my address on it, so you can drop by or mail it back.”

“Will do,” Seunghoon says and checks the traffic outside to see if he can get out undetected.

“In case,” Eun Ri says. “this is the last time we can speak, it is kind of nice working with you. Even though you are kind of a jerk.”

Seunghoon stares at her. It does not even occur to him that maybe this is where his association with Eun Ri ends, and he is more than okay with it to be honest.

“Thank you,” he replies truthfully. “You don’t know how much of a help you have been.” 

“Well,” Eun Ri smiles. “Only if I can get that as an official quote to put on my resume.”

“Never,” Seunghoon laughs and gets out of the car, crouching his way between sparsely parked cars until he is in the direct eyesight of the club.

He cracks his knuckles, eyeing at the second floor where he can see vague shapes of people moving around under low light, and trying to regulate his breathing. Time to find out the truth.


	19. Volume XIX: LIBERATION

Seunghoon drops onto the tiny balcony on the second floor with a lot more complications than he was hoping for. 

First, the club is in the direct eyesight of the main street and Chinatown is a place that never sleeps so the place is not empty despite the fact that it is closing to 1 AM at night. Second, there are large windows on the side of the building that Seunghoon needs to carefully avoid unless he wants to scare the crap out of the people inside.

The door to the balcony to locked from the inside as well, but Seunghoon can hear voices coming out from inside, loud arguing voices. He temporarily considers the merits of breaking the door down but it will attract too much unwanted attention.

Seunghoon sighs and jumps to the side of the wall. He thinks he passed a window to an empty room, maybe he can sneak in from there. 

The window is locked but gives away easily when Seunghoon elbows the glass, the sound of which is swallowed by the loud music coming from downstairs. He crawls in, checking the surrounding area – it seems to be a storage room of some sort with racks of boxes along the wall and a couple of broken chairs.

Seunghoon tiptoes through the room and opens the door as quietly as he can. He doesn’t hear anything suspicious from outside but the club music is confusing his senses a little and he’d rather not take any chances. 

The hallway thankfully is as deserted as he was hoping it to be and Seunghoon quickly jogs towards the general direction of the balcony where he’s heard the arguing voices. He almost runs into a couple of club goers but he manages to hide his ass among the clutters spread across the hallway and its corners.

The hallway that connects to the balcony is a little more brightly lit than the rest, and Seunghoon stops in front of a door where the voices are coming from. Now that he can hear them clearer, they seem to be shouting in a mix of Mandarin and Korean. Seunghoon decides to not pay much attention to the muffled conversation that he can only understand one-side and hopes the recorder in his boot does its job.

Some of the voices sound a little familiar to him but he cannot pinpoint where or when he has heard them. He paces a little in front of the door, planning his next move. He can, with much difficulty, go downstairs to the club floor and look for Lee Kwan Soo since standing here does not seem to be working out that well.

But, he knows. He every instinct is shouting at him that there is something important going on in the room in front of him, and he decides to listen to it. His instinct has never failed him before. 

There is a stack of beer cartons stuck upon each other a couple of feet away from him and Seunghoon leaps toward it, kicking it square on the side until all the cartons fall to the floor with a loud crash. He then jumps up to stick himself on the part of the dirty ceiling where there is less light.

A couple of guys immediately run out of the door Seunghoon was sneaking around earlier, staring at each other when they see the spilled beer on the floor and the broken cartons. One guy jumps over the mess and go around the corner to see if there’s anyone.

“There’s no one here.” He calls to his men. Hopefully, he won’t look up because Seunghoon is right above him.

“Maybe some drunk assholes bumped into them.” One of the guy says and calls into the room. “It’s nothing boss. Just a couple of fallen cartons.”

“Ask Kwan Soo to clean this shit up,” the guy standing under Seunghoon says. “We should probably do a round of check anyway.”

The other guy nods and go the other way along the hallway. Seunghoon holds his breath until both of them are out of his eyesight and Lee Kwan Soo comes out of the room with a mop. Seunghoon drops behind him and puts his hand over a visibly started Kwan Soo’s mouth, holding his other arm over Kwan Soo’s body so that he cannot move.

“Make a sound,” he hisses into Kwan Soo’s ear. “And you’ll end up like Kim Jung Woo.”

Kwan Soo swallows while his body trembles and shakes. Seunghoon pushes him towards the balcony door and leads them both into the outside patio. He pushes the kid on the fragile railing of the balcony until half of his body is hanging in the air. 

“Tell me who killed Kim Jung Woo.” Seunghoon grits and the kid shakes all over again, his eyes bulging out of his gaunt face.

“I don’t know. I don’t know anything about …”

“This is only second floor so you won’t die if I push you off,” Seunghoon says and pushes him further in point. “But I bet it’ll break a few bones.”

“Please.” Kwan Soo cries and Seunghoon swallows the guilt rising in his throat. He does not believe in torture or excessive violence but failure to do so had so far resulted in nothing good for him. He needs information now more than ever.

“Then tell me what you know.” He says, gripping at the kid’s shirt tighter.

“I really don’t know anything,” Kwan Soo says. “I just do what they ask me to do. They do not tell me anything.”

“And what were you doing in that room?” Seunghoon asks. “What are the people arguing about?”

“The … the Chinese,” Kwan Soo swallows. “The Chinese guy wants something. He came here with the trucks and he refuse to go until he can speak to boss.”

“What trucks? What’s on them?” 

“I don’t know. They just ask me to buy food for the drivers when the trucks came in. I didn’t take a look.”

“Do you know what the Chinese want?”

“Some kind of tape. Boss says he can’t give until he is sure.”

“Sure of what?” Seunghoon asks.

“I don’t know. He says he’s waiting for someone to call first before he can give it but the Chinese guy wants it now.”

There are shuffled footsteps and Seunghoon puts his hand over Kwan Soo’s mouth. It seems like the guard dogs are back from checking out the place. 

“Here’s what you are going to do.” Seunghoon whispers to Kwan Soo. “You are going to go in and pretend nothing happened and then you are going to go in to that room and leave the door open a little.”

“I …”

“Do you understand?” Seunghoon asks in a firm voice and Kwan Soo whimpers a little before nodding vigorously.

“Go,” Seunghoon pushes the kid inside before the footsteps can come any closer and flattens himself against the balcony door. 

He only trusts that kid for like 2% but he does not make any trouble and Seunghoon can hear footsteps going into the room. He slips into the hallway and leaps his way over to where the room is. The door is slightly open and Seunghoon can hear Kwan Soo saying in a shaky voice that he needs to get a wash cloth. 

Seunghoon can’t see much of the inside but he has an obscured view of a table and two men standing with their back to Seunghoon in front of a TV. From the faint heartbeat Seunghoon can hear, there are about six people inside and Seunghoon thinks he can probably take them all. 

But before he can move in, one of the guy moves slightly to the left and Seunghoon gets a good view of the TV. It is him on the screen – spider-man and Kim Jung Woo to be exact. In fact, Seunghoon has seen this footage just a couple of days back.

Why would they have the same footage that Eun Ri has? Kwan Soo was talking about a tape earlier which no doubt is this one but why? It is not like anything on it will benefit them since Seunghoon is facing the camera with his back at all times. They are not hoping to find out who he is by the shape of his cranium, are they?

Except the footage does not end where Eun Ri’s does. It shows Seunghoon punching Kim Jung Woo in the jaw and leaping over him into the hallway. It shows several people coming into the camera frame, some helping up Kim Jung Woo and some chasing after Seunghoon. 

The guy in the room grabs a remote and fast forwards for a couple of seconds. A lot of the skipped scenes seems to be just the gang walking in and out of the frames and talking among themselves before the Chinese guy and Kim Jung Woo walk into the frame, visibly arguing about something before the Chinese guy stabs a hidden knife into Kim Jung Woo’s chest.

Pardon his French but mother fucker!

The first thing that comes to his mind is that he is going to punch whoever is inside in the fucking face. The second is why. Why would they keep a copy of this instead of destroying it in the first place.

A phone rings and Seunghoon almost has a heart attack thinking it is his phone, but it comes in from inside the room, and the guy holding the remote moves to answer it. 

Seunghoon takes in a deep breath and concentrates on the tiny voice coming out of the receiver.

“…checked…correct.”

“Good,” the guy from this end says. “Does he show up?”

“… yet. We are … he ..”

“Well, you’d better be prepared. I am not losing my stock again to this fucking insect child again.”

Seunghoon is pretty sure “insect child” refers to him. Spiders aren’t even insects, idiot. And the stock, losing my stock again can only mean one thing. They are bringing in the drugs again, probably via the trucks Kwan Soo mentioned earlier.

The man standing next to the guy on phone – probably the boss of this doghouse, and says something that sounds harsh in Mandarin. Now that the voice does not get distorted by any door or wall, Seunghoon remembers where he has heard it before. 

It is him. The guy who Seunghoon just witness stabbing a dagger in Kim Jung Woo’s heart.

Seunghoon feels sick in his stomach. How could this person just stand there and watch himself murder someone on the screen like he is casually checking out an advertisement? It is not like Nose Ring is some precious being of the world but a life is a life.

They speak in Mandarin for a little while before the boss disappears from the door and comes back with a thumb drive that the Chinese guy snatches quickly.

And everything slots into place. It is pretty obvious that these two gangs are working together under extremely tenuous relationship, the kind that will make the Korean gang to keep the evidence of a Chinese gang member murdering one of theirs in exchange for a replacement of the drugs they have lost. And framing and getting spider-man thrown into jail must be just an added benefit for them.

Of course, there are further questions like where Union Allied fits in and if they have anything to do with Seunghoon’s mysterious suit, but what he has right now is enough for Seunghoon.

He takes a big breath in, listens to the heart beats inside to get a rough map of where everyone is standing and focuses all his frustration and anger into kicking the door down. He is going to keep at least one of the many promises that he made to Minho.

He is going to fuck these bastards up.

__

_*_

_“It seems that spider-man is prowling the city of Seoul yet again. Last night, residents of Chinatown were in for quite a shock when two men unconscious and tied up in spider webs suddenly appeared out of an alley near a club called Eye of the Jade._

_The point of interest however is a small thumb drive stuck in the webbings and a handwritten note that says “Kwan Do Hyun is innocent”. Many passersby have taken videos and pictures of the unknown men with the note and spread them across various SNS before police arrive to the scene._

_Some people claimed that they saw spider-man around the area but so far, nothing has been proven._

_Our correspondence, Yuri is at the scene now where the police had arrived and taken the unconscious men into custody. We will now go to Yuri.”_

_“Thanks Mandy. I am at Chinatown where, just a couple of hours back, probably the strangest and most curious events took place. See this photo here? These two men, unconscious and wrapped from head to toe in webbings fell into the main street around 3 in the morning. Police arrived on the streets shortly but not before the pedestrians get a good look at the guys. We are actually going to interview Ms. Choi who owns the restaurant right across the street. Ms. Choi, can you please sum up the events last night?”_

_“I didn’t know what was going on at first. There were a lot of people crowding across the street and I thought it was just another drunk fight. They are pretty common here, you know? But I get curious when the crowd gets thicker so I got out and take a look.”_

_“Did you get a good look at the men?”_

_“Yes, I think one of them works at Eye of the Jade. Manager or something. I don’t know the other one.”_

_“When did the police come?”_

_“About ten or twenty minutes after I got here. They just took the two guys and drove away! They didn’t explain anything.”_

_“A lot of the people are saying spider-man is behind this.”_

_“Well, it’s obvious, isn’t it? Those men were tied in web strings, which are very strong, by the way. A couple of people tries to shake the thumb drive loose from the web.”_

_“Right. The thumb drive. Do you have any idea what might be on it?”_

_“How would I know? But, I bet you anything it is related to that murder’s case. The note also mentions Kwan Do Hyun.”_

_“Last question. Did you, perhaps, spot spider-man last night?”_

_“No. No. I don’t think he’s someone you see unless he wants you to.”_

_“You makes him sound like the devil.”_

_“Well, who knows what he really is.”_

_“Thanks, Yuri. And Ms. Choi for sharing your thoughts with us. You know, I gotta agree with Ms. Choi here. This is blatantly connected to the murder case of Kim Jung Woo and spider-man. What are your thoughts, Dong Min?”_

_“I agree. I think the thumb drive contains some evidence that will prove Kwan Do Hyun’s innocence like the note says. Which is just in time because his trial is scheduled two weeks from now.”_

_“The question is how? Whatever is in that thumb drive – it needs to prove that Kwan Do Hyun is not only the culprit but also not spider-man, although we can conclude that Kwan Do Hyun is not spider-man or at least not spider-man last night since he is in custody for the time being.”_

_“I think this case is just getting more and more complicated. Who are those men? What is in that thumb drive? And if Kwan Do Hyun is not spider-man, who is?”_

_“Hopefully, SMPA will release a statement sooner than later. We have been bombarded with questions before this morning broadcast about this case. Seems the public is demanding clear answers from SMPA.”_

_“Yes, that’s true. I think this is the most high-profile case ongoing right now, and it is not just local interest. Spider-man has been trending on global twitter, Naver and a lot of social media since last night.”_

_“We are running a special program on spider-man from 11 AM to 12:30 AM on our channel so please tune in to see everything that has come to public light about this masked figure since he appeared six months back.”_

_*_


	20. Volume XX: INTERVIEW

**Blog Entry Name: First and Last Tell-All with the Spider  
Date: 2014 October 13 09:12 AM KST  
Posted By: Anonymous**

**I don’t think I need a special introduction for this one.**

**He is all Seoul can talk about for days now. From your overly-dressed aunt at Sunday service to the middle school student next door – everyone has just one question: who is spider-man? And what does he want?**

**I tried to ask him these questions last night.**

**How do I score an interview with him? Well, some things are better left unsaid.**

**Here is the clearest photo he would allow me to take – the one of him hanging upside down from the ceiling on a single web strand. The web strand is still stuck to my ceiling at this very moment. I will probably remove it, or use it as some sort of weird modern art decoration to commemorate the fact that spider-man has been in my house.**

**[[photo_attached]]**

**In person, spider-man is surprisingly not that different from what you read about him online – the rumors of his height seem to be exaggerated but he is quick, mysterious and rich on wit like everyone that ran into him declares.**

**We sat down for a short interview after he dropped in at my place. Well, I sat down. He hung on various spots on my ceiling and my walls, and criticized my choice of art pieces amidst the interview.**

**Q: “Thank you for agreeing to the interview. I know you probably do not want to risk this.”**

**A: “Isn’t the risk higher for you? I am a known wanted man. And you are willing associating yourself with me.”**

**Q: “Occupational hazards. And actually, I wanted to ask you about that first. The police are not dropping charges against you even after you handed over the evidence of Mr. Kim Jung Woo’s murder. There is still a warrant out there looking for you. Do you have any comment or thoughts on this?”**

**A: “My thoughts? It’s all a fucking waste of time and resource. Sorry, can I swear? I can? Cool. See, the thing is I am not the enemy, and I know it is completely logical for people to doubt me, but I have broken no actual law so far.”**

**Q: “Assault and Battery is a crime.”**

**A: “Well, I never assaulted someone unprovoked, if it helps?”**

**Q: “I am quoting SMPA here but they are charging your for operating outside the law.”**

**A: “I tried operating inside. It didn’t work.”**

**Q: “That’s an interesting way to answer. Are you, perhaps, in law enforcement before?”**

**A: “I thought we agree on no personal question.”**

**Q: “My bad. So, you think SMPA should drop the charges against you?”**

**A: “Well, I am not going to complain if they do. It is kind of annoying when you subdue a robber and the police arriving at the scene tells you to freeze instead of the thug on the ground.”**

**Q: “But, it is not your job, is it? Fighting the thugs.”**

**A: “No, I guess not.”**

**Q: “Then why are you doing this?”**

**A: “I used to think about it a lot. Still do, actually. And I am sorry but I don’t have a clear cut answer for that. The only thing I can tell you is that I made my choices. Or I think I did. I am starting to have a feeling that people like us? We don’t really have a choice.”**

**Q: “People like you? You mean, superheroes?”**

**A: “Or people who are slightly touched in the head. Either way.”**

**Q: “Do you call yourself a superhero?”**

**A: “I never called myself anything. The public did.”**

**Q: “Fair enough. I am not sure the public will buy your motives though.”**

**A: “Well, I am not here to sell anything. Look, I am not running for president or whatever. I only agree to do this interview to say one thing. I am not who you need to concern yourself with, unless you have a tendency to rob and assault people. Sure, the police can continue looking for me if they want, but I have never harmed an innocent civilian in my life, and I never will. You can believe me or not, I can’t really do anything about it. But, if I have to send a message out to the world, it is that.”**

**Q: “I hope it reaches the public the way you indent to. Can we move on to the next question?”**

**A: “Yes, please. Thank god.”**

**Q: “A lot of people are still unclear – this probably includes the police as well – on Kwan Do Hyun’s case.”**

**A: “All I can say is the police has all the information they need – I happen to know that they have discovered some really interesting things as well. But, if they don’t want to tell the public, I am only a law abiding citizen. I can’t do anything about it.”**

**Q: “Is that a way of telling me to skip the follow up questions?”**

**Silence.**

**A: “Sorry, I just winked at you, but I forgot I am wearing the mask.”**

**Q: “Let’s talk about that. The mask, and the suit in fact. I don’t suppose you can tell us anything about the suit or how you engineered it to shoot out web strands? If they are indeed web strands.”**

**A: “A magician never reveals his secrets.”**

**Q: “But, where does the magician shop? Because that suit seems really advanced and sort of expensive, especially when I see it in person.”**

**A: “I made it on my own. I am a man of many talents.”**

**Q: “Is there any reason you have a spider symbol on your chest? The public didn’t decide to call you spider-man not without a reason.”**

**A: “It is not a gang symbol if you are wondering.”**

**Q: “I wasn’t. But a lot of people were. They think there is no single entity as spider-man.”**

**A: “Are they the same people who think the moon landing is fake?”**

**Q: “You can’t exactly blame them though, can you? We know nothing about you and yet we are supposed to trust you?”**

**A: “I didn’t ask for trust. I help someone if they need help. And then, I leave. That’s my whole modus operandi.”**

**Q: “You know, your English is not bad.”**

**A: “Thank you.” [in English]**

**Q: “I know we agreed on no personal question, but is it possible to tell us what get you started? Not a lot of people start dressing up in a suit to fight crime on a whim.”**

**A: “Let’s just say that I finally snapped one day.”**

**Q: “Snapped at what?”**

**A: “The world? I guess. Seoul is where I did my growing up and I love this city, but there are so many terrible things running through it as well, and if I can do something about those, why not?”**

**Q: “That’s a very noble answer.”**

**A: “Does it come across like that? I don’t know. I don’t think there is anything noble about wanting the best for your city.”**

**Q: “I think a lot of people do want the best for this city, but so far, I have only seen one spider-man.”**

**A: “I have always been kind of extreme, I guess.”**

**Q: “So, what are you next steps then? You still have the police on your tail even thought the murder charges are dropped.”**

**A: “My next steps? I don’t know. Help solve a murder case for the police. Try to get as many lowlifes in jail as I can? Maybe help some grandmas cross the road? I don’t know. Whatever the city needs me to, I guess.”**

**Q: “Even though the city has turned on you during Kim Jung Woo’s murder case?”**

**A: “Well, they didn’t know any better.”**

**Q: “Do you read the comments about you online? During those times?”**

**A: “No. I tried to keep up with the news, but I skip the public opinions after I realize that it doesn’t matter. What I do does not depend on their opinion on me. Plus, all of it is coming from a place of fear and uncertainty, so I don’t really hold it against them.”**

**Q: “You do have people rallying for you though. Your fans.”**

**A: “God, that’s crazy. I am not in some idol boy band. I am happy there are people who support me and believe in me, but it is a little weird to call them fans.”**

**Q: “More and more fan clubs are popping up in support for you so I think it’s not that weird for them. Do you have any message to them? Your fans, I mean. Before you go?”**

**A: “Spider Babes is an ugly fan group name. Please change it.”**

**He left as abruptly as he came – swinging out of my balcony on the 12th floor like he is jumping over a mere puddle on the ground, and merging into the darkness of the night until he can no longer be seen.**

**Reading back through the interview, I realize he said a lot of nothings, and it makes me ashamed as a reporter to be honest. I should be trapping him and bombarding him with questions but to be honest, I have a soft spot for this masked hero. No, I am not a spider babe, but I know he has the best of intentions and he is trying his best to make this city a better place.**

**Why do I not go to a established news outlet with this interview when they will pay me gold in my weight for this interview? It is another one of his requests unfortunately. For me to be anonymous when I posted this because he thinks I am taking unnecessary risks despite my multiple insurances that I will be fine.**

**It is kind of sweet in an annoying way.**

**Of course, you might not believe me and think I made this whole post up. That’s fine. I am gonna quote the man of the hour here: What I do does not depend on your opinion on me.**

**Peace out, Seoulians. It has been quite a ride.**

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
 _  
10,214 Comments_

_Bullshit blog. Do you think spider-man will just give an interview to anyone???? At least, fake it convincingly._

_*_

_That picture does look like him. He saved me before – when the bastards at my school jumped me. THANK YOU SPIDER-MAN YOU ROCK  
>>>> the picture is clearly photoshopped dumbass _

_*_

_IT IS LEGIT. HOLY SHIT. GUYS, GO CHECK THE LATEST NAVER THREAD ABOUT SPIDEY. THIS GIRL RAN INTO HIM AND ASK HIM ABOUT THIS AND HE SAID IT IS LEGIT AND SHE HAS IT RECORDED. HOLY FUCK._

_*_

_No one asked him to be the guardian of the city. Get off your high horse. Sure, Seoul might have a lot of bad places but we are also one of the safest cities in the world! No one asked you to be here, all you are doing is confusing and scaring people and causing murders (yes I know about the official police statement but you can’t tell me that this spider guy is not involved in any of this). Leave us alone._

_*_

_SPIDER-MAN I LOVE YOU._

_*_

_Spider Babe is not a bad fan group name! How could he say that after we have supported him for so long through thick and thin? Does he not care about his fans????_

_*_

_I think the reporter hits the nail on the head with him being in law enforcement before. My husband was one and he always had this weird guilt complex/hero complex._

_*_

_So, the only usable information we can get from this interview is that he grew up in Seoul? Even that is questionable. Reporter, you should have done a better job._

_*_

_If this guy is really about a better city, he should start by repairing the street in front of my house lol_

_*_

_Whoever he is, I wish him the best. Thank you. For protecting us._

 

*****

 

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